A few hours before the Attal government’s announcement, and before her ouster from the Ministry of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak said to those around her: “I don’t regret anything. » Regret what, exactly? To have been there? For having contradicted the President of the Republic on immigration law? or on the Depardieu case? A year and a half after her appointment, the person concerned wanted to be loyal and faithful to the one who had propelled her to Rue de Valois. Wasted effort: his departure was recorded on Thursday, for the benefit of the ex-LR mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris, Rachida Dati, who will take up the torch.
Not being elected, and occupying a prominent, but not sovereign, portfolio, Rima Abdul Malak began her tenure within the executive by implementing Emmanuel Macron’s major projects. First and foremost, the opening of a French language city in the castle of Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne), and the setting to music of the Culture Pass. A hard worker, traveling extensively, she will manage to push some specific issues, such as the law on restitutions or the tax on streaming. Better still, it will succeed in maintaining a form of harmony in these cultural environments which are usually so flammable.
But it is with the President of the Republic himself that she will have trouble, around the Depardieu affair, first of all, then at the time of the immigration law. In the midst of controversy over the gritty remarks made by the actor during a trip to North Korea a few years ago, and recently broadcast by France 2, the minister distances herself from this monster of French cinema. During a trip on December 15, she first said she was “disgusted”, and believed that the actor was a “shame on France”. The same evening, she persisted in asserting that a “disciplinary procedure” had been initiated by the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor, which envisaged the withdrawal of the decoration from Depardieu. Three days later, on France 5, the presidential denial was scathing: “It is not on the basis of a report that we remove the Legion of Honor from an artist,” explains the president, who accuses his minister for having spoken too quickly, and adds that the actor makes, on the contrary, “France proud”. This is enough to put her former advisor in her place, in front of millions of viewers.
The coup de grace between Emmanuel Macron and Rima Abdul Malak will come a few days later, around the immigration bill. Behind the scenes, six ministers from the left, including Rima Abdul Malak, say they are at odds with this text, largely rewritten by the LR right. Having immigrated to France with his family against the backdrop of the war in Lebanon, Abdul Malak justified his – partial – opposition by his past. Even if she denies, on her Instagram account, the fact of having threatened or considered resigning, the damage will be done. In politics, and even more so in macronia, you don’t bite the hand that fed you with impunity. Especially when you are not a political heavyweight.
