The name of the future Minister of Justice is not yet known, but concern is already spreading among the magistrates. On Tuesday morning, September 17, they discovered that there would no longer be a centre dedicated to justice in the office of Prime Minister Michel Barnier. From now on, it is a large centre that brings together the subjects “Security, justice, immigration” is being implemented under the direction of the “internal adviser” Simon Babre. The 47-year-old was until then prefect of Eure. He was also, between 2010 and 2012, deputy head of the Presidency of the Republic, when Nicolas Sarkozy was head of state.
This merger is a sign “very worrying” for the Magistrates’ Union (USM, majority) and the Magistrates’ Union (SM, left), the two main representative organisations. In a press release published on Tuesday evening, the USM “denunciate forcefully” AND “notes with astonishment the absence of a justice advisor in favor of a single advisor”. For the union, “This composition is unpublished under the Vmy Republic and constitutes a very bad sign in terms of the independence of the judiciary, a condition for the balance of powers.” For the USM, Matignon’s decision must “It must be analysed as an administrative takeover of Place Beauvau and Place Vendôme, to the detriment of the independence of the judiciary, a pillar of our rule of law.”
“Embodiment”
The same analysis is made by the Magistrates’ Union. Its president, Kim Reuflet, says the following: “shocked” for this decision “which is not just symbolic” AND “which says a lot about the Prime Minister’s vision of justice”. Or, according to her, “an embodiment of justice”Already “implemented by the outgoing Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, who published a circular every three months to ask prosecutors to act quickly and harshly”. For the SM, “We still have time to regroup and appoint a judge as a “justice advisor” to head a separate division”. And ask yourself: “What will happen, for example, to all the subjects of civil justice? Will a prefect be in charge of this?”
In reality, Matignon’s decision is not trivial. The head of division is the privileged contact of the ministry that deals with the Prime Minister’s office and complies, for example, with budgetary requirements.
To calm the growing discontent, Matignon says that a “justice adviser” – a qualified magistrate – should soon be appointed within the merged division. But I am not sure that this will be enough to calm concerns, as he would not have the same rank as a division head and would not participate in the most important arbitration meetings. This increases the fears of the legal world tenfold, as the budget is tight at the moment; the Chancellery could thus be deprived of a replacement for Matignon to plead its case.
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