Bruno Retailleau and Gérald Darmanin on all fronts in the heart of summer

When a tandem turns into a duel. Between Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin, political competition has resumed its rights in the dead of summer. The former has increased his trips to the fires that have proliferated in the south of France. And was due to conclude, on Saturday, August 23, a three-day trip to Guadeloupe and Martinique dedicated to the fight against drug trafficking .

Similarly, the latter has spared no effort in promoting his "firm" penal policy, keeping a tally of transfers of prisoners to the high-security prison of Vendin-le-Vieil (Pas-de-Calais) , where the hundred or so most dangerous drug traffickers in the country are to be eventually grouped together. The former mayor of Tourcoing (Nord) is also finalizing the drafting of his bill aimed at ensuring a "useful, rapid and effective sanction" (SURE), a text designed to initiate a "penal revolution" by overhauling the scale of sentences and introducing minimum sentences.

After the coordinated pas de deux of the first months, the two men are now taking care to mark their territory, not without ulterior motives. Because both, from the Beauvau and Vendôme squares, have found within the government of François Bayrou, with its uncertain lease, a springboard to a place in pole position in the race for the 2027 presidential election.

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