This is a speech that was eagerly awaited. While the opposition demanded his resignation, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the Minister of National Education, spoke on Tuesday to defend himself from having announced the new health protocol in schools from Ibiza (Spain). Stuck in this controversy, the minister allowed remorse to filter through.
He said on Tuesday that he “regrets the symbolism” of his vacation in Ibiza, information that has drawn strong criticism. “It turns out that the place I chose, I probably should have chosen another one. The symbolism, I regret it, ”acknowledged the minister during the session of questions to the government in the National Assembly, the day following Mediapart revealed that he was in Ibiza when he announced his controversial protocol. , information confirmed by the ministry.
The Minister had previously asked three questions in his defense. “Did I have the right to take a few days off following this year? Are there any meetings or items I had to do during this time that I didn’t do because of this? Of course not,” he said.
“Let’s not get lost in the accessory”
“And third, would the decisions have been different if I had been somewhere else?” No more”, he added, before continuing: “There is, I recognize, a symbolism”. “As for the rest, for two years with the majority, with my teams, with all the teachers in France, we have maintained the open school policy. This is what is essential, and let’s not get lost in the accessory”, he added.
Earlier in the day, the deputy (LREM) of the Rhône Bruno Bonnell had tried to defend the former boss of Essec de Cergy-Pontoise. “Ibiza is closer to Paris than some remote corners of France,” he wanted to explain when he was a guest of BFM.
The revelation by Mediapart of Jean-Michel Blanquer’s stay in Ibiza when he unveiled to the Parisian the new – and controversial and since amended – health protocol for schools, on the eve of the start of the new school year in January, sparked a wave of criticism , weakening the Minister of Education already undermined by a very well-attended strike.
The left called once more for his resignation, while the teachers’ unions, indignant, pointed to a “terrible symbol”.
