doHow can we describe Eric Dupond-Moretti’s record at the head of the Ministry of Justice? On the one hand, he was a Keeper of the Seals with a rare longevity in this position (just over four years), he carried out an unprecedented recruitment policy (in particular, of magistrates and clerks) and increased the number of posts in an unprecedented way. Dupond-Moretti also showed himself to be in favour of a civil-friendly policy and strengthened the fight against domestic violence.
On the other hand, he did not solve the problem of prison overcrowding and did not lead an important symbolic reform that bears his name. Eric Dupond-Moretti does not want to be remembered only for budget increases and prefers to highlight the constitutionalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) – although the proposed constitutional law was supported especially by the left-wing opposition –, increases for prison staff, the confiscation of criminal assets or even the adoption of the juvenile criminal justice code.
When he was appointed in July 2020, he was a star recruit for Emmanuel Macron. A well-known, media-savvy and rather left-wing lawyer, he will then have to “incarnate” the role. His predecessor, Nicole Belloubet, highly regarded by the judiciary, was able to engage in dialogue with the various trade union representatives, but remained politically discreet.
The States General of 2021
As soon as Dupond-Moretti took office, observers saw that this would not be a mandate like any other. The then president of the Union Syndicale des Magistrates (USM, majority), Céline Parisot, considered the appointment of the tenor of the bar association to be a “declaration of war”. This set the tone: relations with the magistrates’ unions, in particular with the two main ones, the USM and the Magistrates’ Union (SM, left), were going to be execrable. Over time, more or less, they will normalize.
During his inauguration, the new Keeper of the Seals assures him: he wants to reform the public prosecutor’s office and open the profession of magistrate to society. If the reform of the Public Prosecutor’s Office was not carried out, Eric Dupond-Moretti was forced to address, even though it is not his natural inclination, the “dialogue and consultation”and this despite the mutual hostility maintained with some of the magistrates.
He had no choice: in November 2021, on the occasion of the launch of the States General of Justice, the “Tribune of the 3,000”, published in the WorldHe denounced the working conditions of judges and secretaries, the constant pressure, the lack of resources, the chronic shortage of personnel and “a loss of meaning”The emergency is there, the general malaise is profound. And the States General must respond to it.
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