The resignation of Christiane Taubira’s government elevated the former Minister of Justice to the supreme protector of republican values. Her motivation could not have been more “political,” speaking of “coherence.”
In fact, for some time, she had put her charisma at the service of her image more than at the service of her public office.
From a ministerial point of view, after the fervor of “marriage for all,” during which she was remarkable, Christiane Taubira’s record appears mixed. After losing her battles over penal reform, one of her flagship projects, the reform of juvenile justice, which she wants to be less repressive, is stagnating.
After the November attacks, the minister had not hidden her opposition to the plan for stripping terrorists of their nationality, announced by the President of the Republic.
Her departure from the Government, cleverly orchestrated, makes her a natural candidate for the leadership of the far-left, which needs a media-savvy “queen” (the theatrical exit from the Ministry on a bicycle points in this direction) instead of all these minor leaders.
In fact, this gesture is merely the end of the clash between a left that wants to be realistic and effective in its reformism and the other, which self-proclaims itself as moral and idealistic.
As in comedies, there are several scenes and many acts: the hashtag “Taubira2017” that quickly appeared on social media, does it signal to us that we are entering the first?
Eric Ciotti, finally safe from the ridicule that the Minister of Justice inflicted on him at every parliamentary session in response to his criticisms, did not fail to react: “I opposed Christiane #Taubira because she carried an extremely dangerous ideology.”
One might reproach the resigning minister for confusing the poetry of high principles with the prose of hard reality, but to see in her a Pol Pot in a skirt…
Christiane Taubira had already been a presidential candidate in 2002: her 2.32% in the first round, added to Jean-Pierre Chevénement’s score of 5.33%, nailed Jospin in the first round, preventing him from reaching the second.
Isn’t it said that history repeats itself? It is the destiny of the small to always aim higher!
