Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

French minister in hot water over ties with defense giant Dassault

French minister in hot water over ties with defense giant Dassault

Agnès Pannier-Runacher has been living in a house owned by heirs of the defense and media conglomerate.
French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher has been living since last year in a house owned by heirs of Dassault Group, raising questions as to her ties with the defense and media conglomerate — once part of her ministerial remit.

Pannier-Runacher moved in with her partner in the house in Lens, northern France, in 2021. The property is owned by an estate company controlled by heirs of now-deceased Olivier Dassault, the elder son of industry czar Serge Dassault.

Pannier-Runacher was industry minister at the time of the move, with the defense behemoth Dassault Group's activities partly under her scope. While she was under no legal obligation to disclose her landlord's identity, the arrangement sparks questions as to the scope of current rules and the risk of conflict of interest.

Pannier-Runacher said she was not aware of the landlord's identity, as the lease had been signed by her partner before she moved in.

"When I moved in with my partner in May 2021, he had been occupying the house since 2017. I didn't know who the landlord was," the minister told local newspaper La Voix du Nord Thursday.

The Dassault family controls the group of the same name via a family holding.

When Olivier Dassault died in March 2021, Pannier-Runacher described him as a "delicate friend". Two months later, she moved into a house owned by his family estate that her partner Nicolas Bays had been renting since 2017.

Bays had himself been working in Pannier-Runacher's cabinet at the industry ministry since 2020, first as an adviser then as her chief of cabinet. He was previously a Socialist MP and developed close ties with Olivier Dassault, himself a conservative MP for Les Républicains party. They were both vice-presidents of a France-Qatar parliamentary intergroup, an informal group facilitating exchanges between the two countries.

He said he didn't feel the need to disclose his housing situation at the time.

"As I have a classic lease, paying my rent regularly, and as this situation is not mentioned in the HATVP [the French civil service's ethical body] guidelines, it did not seem necessary to declare it," he said.

The Dassault family wasn't immediately available for comment.

The same month she moved in, the then industry minister boasted Croatia's and Greece's latest orders of Dassault-made Rafale military jets.

The couple's ties with the Dassault family aren't covered by the French government's ethics rules, which require ministers, members of their cabinets and members of parliament to disclose their estate and external professional activities.

But the revelations raise broader transparency and ethics questions.

Béatrice Guillemont, director general at anti-corruption NGO Anticor, said that a conflict of interest is described by French law as "any situation of interference between a public interest and public or private interests which is likely to influence or to appear to influence the independent, impartial and objective exercise of a function."

Guillemont says the question arises as to why Nicolas Bays did not deem it necessary to inform his superior, then Minister of Industry and companion, that they were living in a house belonging to one of the most influential French industrialist families.

"One should not wait until it falls under [specific ethics rules] to declare a certain number of interests or activities," she said.

The news broke as Pannier-Runacher was already under fire over her family's ties with oil company Perenco — of which her father was a top executive — after media outlet Disclose published information about her children's inheritance.

MPs for far left party France Unbowed have slammed the minister for what they saw as a lack of transparency over both matters.

"Today, we discover that when she was minister for industry, she was staying at a big industrialist's house. Legal maybe, moral certainly not," tweeted Clémence Guetté, vice president of the France Unbowed group in the National Assembly, the parliament's lower chamber.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
×