According to information collected by Le Figaro on Friday, there will indeed be a parliamentary commission of inquiry in the Senate concerning the affair of the Marianne Fund. Socialist Senator Claude Raynal, Chairman of the Finance Committee (which will constitute itself for the occasion as a commission of inquiry), should logically chair the work and the hearings which could begin as early as May, and this for three months. We also know that the Law Commission should be associated with these investigations. The official decision will be taken this week during the conference of presidents.
The Marianne fund was set up by Marlène Schiappa in April 2021. At the time, the current Secretary of State for the Social and Solidarity Economy was Minister Delegate for Citizenship. The objectives of this fund, endowed with 2.5 million euros, were the promotion of republican values and the fight against separatism, as a political response after the assassination of Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded on October 16, 2020.
But at the beginning of April, various journalistic investigations (Marianne, France 2, Mediapart) questioned the selection of certain associations receiving grants from the Marianne Fund. Three reports were sent to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) while in the Senate, Claude Raynal, Chairman of the Finance Committee, had requested the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry, as was the case at the time of the Benalla case. The Law Commission, then chaired by the Channel Senator Philippe Bas, presented its investigation report in February 2019.
Regarding the Marianne Fund, after analyzing documents provided by the government, Senator Claude Raynal estimated on April 24 that questions remained unanswered concerning two files, those of the associations “Union of Societies of Physical Education and Military Preparation” ( USEPPM) and “Rebuilding the Commons”.
In this case, Marlène Schiappa defends herself from any favoritism linked to the allocation of certain subsidies and announced to Figaro that she would file a complaint for defamation. The operation of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CIDPR) is pointed out on the way in which it conducted the procedure for selecting subsidized associations. Out of 17 applications selected, four associations would have received 1.3 million euros out of the 2.5 million managed by the Marianne fund, including the UESPPM (355,000 euros).
It will be up to senators to explain whether the distribution of this public money held by the Marianne Fund has been the subject of cronyism.
