Presidential Election: Gérald Darmanin wants to "turn up the volume" with "seven or eight proposals that will spark debate"

It's no secret: Gérald Darmanin wants to make a difference in the upcoming presidential election. He even wants to become a candidate. While the sound system is already well-tuned, the high-profile Minister of Justice intends to "turn it up even more," as he told Le Parisien in an article published Wednesday, June 25.

To raise the decibels, it is a matter of "putting on the table seven, eight very strong proposals that will spark debate," indicates the 42-year-old Minister of Justice, who promises the organization of a "Tourcoing 3" to set the tone for "a rise in power."

A reference to this northern city of which he was mayor and where he launched his political comeback in 2023 - being reprimanded in the process by Élisabeth Borne - before inaugurating his movement, "Populaires", the following year in a nod to the political line he seeks to embody.

For this third gathering, the former Minister of the Interior (2020-2024) has set a date for August 31. Three themes are on the agenda, reports Le Parisien: "being a parent and a child is not so easy," "being 20 and being happy," and "making a success of your life despite your postal code."

This is a way for the person concerned to demonstrate that he has "things to propose outside of sovereign issues", while he has already distinguished himself with several divisive proposals in six months at the Ministry of Justice (high security prisons for drug traffickers, minimum sentences, end of suspended sentences).

Enough to be on the starting line in 2027? For the moment, the former UMP member is lagging behind, as demonstrated by a recent poll by the Ipsos institute for La Tribune Dimanche .

When asked who would make the best president of the Republic in 2027, respondents primarily chose Édouard Philippe (42%), Bruno Retailleau (32%), and Gabriel Attal (18%). Gérald Darmanin brought up the rear of the ambitious with just 8%.

But the minister believes in his luck. "We're in Alpe d'Huez, there's 200km of elevation gain left," he said recently, before continuing his sporting metaphor : "There are some who will be caught doping, there are some who will fall, some will get hit by a canteen, there's also the guy who will stand in the middle (of the road) and make (everyone) stumble."