Emmanuel Macron's second term has started with problems. It already happened to him after arriving at the Elysee, in 2017. The formation of the new government took several weeks, in part to seek political balance, but also to subject the lives of ministers to severe scrutiny and avoid discovering skeletons in their closets . And that is precisely what has happened with Damien Abad, the new head of the Solidarities, Autonomy and the Disabled portfolio. Two women accuse him of separate violations, more than ten years ago. Although the justice archived the cases at the time, they have reappeared and put the interested party, the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, in a bind.
The situation is delicate because of the facts themselves and because of the exculpatory arguments put forward by the minister. Abad, a native of Nîmes, 42 years old and the son of a family of Spanish exiles, is not just any politician. Only a few days ago he was presented as a demonstration of Macron's inexhaustible ability to attract figures from the right. The minister today in trouble was in the last legislature the head of the parliamentary group of The Republicans (LR), the conservative opposition. His move to Macron's side greatly irritated his former co-religionists.
One of Abad's accusers is identified as Chloé in the information released by the digital media Mediapart, specialized in uncovering scandals. The meeting with Abad would have taken place one night in 2010 in a Parisian bar. They had met at a wedding and exchanged messages. The date ended with the proposal of a glass of champagne. The girl confessed to having had a black-out. She suspects that she was drugged. She woke up the next morning in a hotel room, in her underwear and very dizzy.
The second incident dates back to 2011. Another woman, Margaux, claims to have had a forced sexual relationship with Abad. He imposed an anal penetration on her, despite the fact that she rejected it, and tried to get her to perform fellatio on him. None of the complaints prospered, due to the lack of sufficient evidence or inconsistent statements by the alleged victims, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
In a statement, Abad categorically denied the allegations and insisted that he had always had consensual sex. Without shame or modesty, the minister used her own disability as an alibi and went down to the field of detail. The minister suffers from artogryposis, a rare, congenital disease that prevents muscle development in the extremities. Abad specified that "in my situation, the sexual act can only happen with the help and benevolence of my partner." "It is impossible for me to impose one or another practice, one or another gesture," he added. If it is not with the full and complete consent and participation of the other party, nothing is possible”. For all these reasons, he emphasized the impossibility, given his physical limitations, that he could have drugged, transported, stripped and raped an unconscious woman.
In a first reaction, the head of the Government said that she had found out about the accusations against Abad through the press. Borne stressed that "in all matters of harassment, sexual assault, there can be no impunity." The prime minister recalled that the matter had been shelved but pointed out that if the justice system investigates it again, "all the consequences will be drawn." Hours later, a statement from the Matignon palace slightly corrected the shot and clarified that the consequences will come if the justice makes a decision. In principle, then, the presumption of innocence prevails.
The revelations, conducive to sensationalism and sarcastic comments, are inopportune because there are legislative elections on June 12 and 19, vital for Macron to have a majority that makes it easier for him to govern. Abad was a trophy won on the right and now it can become a mortgage.
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