Gérald Darmanin brings together parliamentarians for a cocktail party in his ministry, with the RN present in large numbers

An unusual evening was held on Monday, May 12. The Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin , organized a cocktail dinner at the Hôtel de Bourvallais on Place Vendôme, inviting all the deputies, senators and European deputies.

"I presented to French parliamentarians the concrete directions I am taking to modernize and simplify the Ministry of Justice," the Minister of Justice announced on his social networks.

All political leanings were invited to this exchange, from the rebels to the far right. But the left wing of the Assembly, including the Socialist Party and the Greens, preferred to pass on their turn. Either for political reasons or because they were caught up in the debates, while the examination of the bill on end-of-life had just begun a few hours earlier.

Finally, among the hundred or so participants, elected officials from the National Rally were present in large numbers, as BFMTV learned from concordant sources. European MP Sarah Knafo was also present on behalf of Reconquête, as her entourage told BFMTV.

"When we're invited, we come!" MEP Matthieu Vallet told Le Parisien , who did not turn down the invitation and took the opportunity to ask the minister for permission to visit a regional intervention and security team from the prison administration. He received this permission at the event.

A strange atmosphere? A senator from the Republicans (LR) present testified. "Frankly, I don't know what to tell you..." She explained that the evening consisted of a strange communications exercise, primarily "a rehearsal" for the minister's announcements made in the morning.

Ultimately, according to this participant, there were "not a lot of people." "I kind of feel like it was a waste of time," she says.

The taxpayer-funded PR stunt, which ultimately became a meeting of the right, has raised eyebrows on the left. "Between Darmanin and Retailleau, there are questions to be asked about the use of government resources for their own personal campaigns," responded the rebellious MEP Manon Aubry, contacted by the HuffPost . Like the rest of the left, she shunned this cocktail.