PARIS — French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin is inching ever closer to throwing his hat in the ring in the race for president.
Darmanin said in an interview published Friday that he wants to be president and was “working” on a platform. On Wednesday, he told French public radio he wants to “deeply influence” the country ” at a time when things are extremely complicated for French people.”
Someone close to the justice minister, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, confirmed Darmanin’s eye is on the Elysée and said they have noticed a change in how he talks about the 2027 race.
“He used to say that he’d have a role to play [in the next presidential election],” the person said. “Now, he’s giving updates on where he is in his process, saying that he wants [to run] and is preparing himself.”
Darmanin, who hails from French President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal Renaissance party, will go “a little bit further” in defining his plans in an upcoming interview on a popular YouTube talk show soon, the individual said.
The justice minister would be joining an already crowded field of centrist and right-wing politicians. Macron is constitutionally barred from contesting after serving two consecutive terms.
As a former member of the conservative Les Républicains party who switched allegiance to Macron after his 2017 presidential victory, Darmanin insists that the right-of-center coalition currently backing the government must remain united ahead of the next election to fend off challenges from both left-wing and far-right opponents. He has repeatedly said he would be open to supporting another candidate he is ideologically aligned with if they were better positioned to win.
Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe could fit that description. The 54-year-old mayor of Le Havre, who served as Macron’s first head of government from 2017 to 2020, has already announced his candidacy and boasts a higher approval rating than Darmanin in many polls.
In a 2023 interview with the online media outlet Brut, Darmanin said that he “wished” for Philippe to be the standard-bearer for their camp in 2027, describing him at the time as “best placed” to win the election.
But the tide appears to have shifted. Asked about Philippe’s candidacy on Wednesday, Darmanin pointed to his own working-class roots in an effort to distinguish himself from his potential rival, emphasizing that his background could make him “more sensitive to social issues.”
He highlighted his opposition to Philippe’s proposal to raise the minimum retirement age to 67 — a move likely to provoke significant backlash given how contentious pension reform remains in France — by stating that the move would be unfair to members of his own family working blue-collar jobs.
The two men are scheduled to have lunch on Wednesday, Darmanin also said, a meeting during which presidential ambitions are likely to be on the menu.
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