Caught in a storm for almost a month at the start of the year, during her time at National Education, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, since reassigned to Sports, her original portfolio, gradually got back in the saddle , before this quiet return was marred by the announcement of an indictment.
The minister learned at the end of last year that she had been indicted for defamation after comments targeting the former president of the French Football Federation Noël Le Graët, news that she took with “serenity”, said Thursday his entourage. But this episode, revealed Thursday by AFP, nevertheless constitutes a new pitfall on an already bumpy road.
“She experienced what no politician wants to experience. Being caught in a fire that doesn’t stop no matter what you do. And she still came back,” summarizes a source close to the Ministry of Sports.
His descent into hell was indeed brutal, triggered at the beginning of January from his first visit to a school in Yvelines shortly after his appointment as head of this super ministry combining National Education and Sports a few months before the Olympics. A double hat which seemed to some “untenable” according to several sources at the time.
– Crash –
Alongside Gabriel Attal in Andrésy (Yvelines), the crash. His outing on the “package of unreplaced hours” to explain his choice to send his children to the Parisian private school Stanislas sparked a storm which only ended a month later. A period intertwined with repeated controversies, linked to National Education.
“A long period, very long when you see it from the inside,” confides a source close to the sporting world. A period that weakened her.
During the CNOSF’s wishes on January 30, nine days before her demotion, the minister let loose, violently attacking her detractors, which some wrongly interpreted as a sort of swan song. She portrayed herself in this speech as the “symbol of a caste to be destroyed”, while the opposition but also several elected officials from the majority, who were off the record, demanded her departure from the government. However, she has not lost the support of Emmanuel Macron who decided to keep her in Sports.
“A fairly logical choice, she made mistakes but one thing is certain, she is a hard worker six months before the Olympics, she is the only one who could do the job,” assures a source close to the sports movement.
His return was smooth. “She hasn’t cut time or taken any time off,” those around her assure AFP.
She who, before this whirlwind, could string together three or four media outings in a week, went on a diet, “a time for media breathing” specifies those around her, before returning step by step. A strategic and precise return so as not to rush public opinion. First interviews with the foreign press, then the regional daily press, before returning to the sets of national radio stations (RTL, France Inter, France Info…).
– “Clans an internal” –
Behind the scenes, she took over the reins of the sports eco-system quite quickly, according to several sources. “Clearly she was very present from her reassignment and hyper efficient, as usual,” said Ludovic Royé, president of the ASDTN, to AFP.
This tornado, however, left its mark. “Internally, dissensions appeared between his stated supporters and the others,” explains a source close to the Olympic movement.
A support column published in the middle of the storm signed by several presidents of federations and DTN was variously appreciated.
“A lot of people showed up to support it, knowing that they were going to take hits. Within the Ministry of Sports, certain DTNs were, for example, summoned by the sports directorate,” recalls one of the signatories.
“It created clans internally. It remains a scar,” he assures. She assured in several interviews that this period, during which she had “taken blows”, had “hardened” her.
“But she has changed, she is more enigmatic than before. She was clearly touched by this sequence, she seems a little withdrawn since then”, summarizes to AFP an elected official who meets her regularly.
Monday, during an Olympic seminar in La Villette with the presidents of federations, the DTNs, and the performance directors, what we call the +Olympic family+, she will officially plant the banner of her return.
2024-03-17 00:41:06
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