– Unofficial translation of statement by Vox Public, published on 8 April 2021, accessible here
After months of procrastination, the Prime Minister Jean Castex has finally decided to renew the accreditation of the association Anticor allowing it to take legal action. The association had feared for several months that it would be deprived of this. VoxPublic has accompanied and supported Anticor in this arm wrestling with the government. After three months of intensive partnership, combining advocacy and media relations advice and strategic recommendations, this victory for Anticor is a source of great satisfaction for VoxPublic.
Anticor is a French association that acts against corruption and conflicts of interest. Under French law, ministerial approval is required for an anti-corruption association to act as a civil party in corruption cases.
This approval, which has existed since the laws against corruption that followed the Cahuzac affair, is granted by the Minister of Justice and is subject to renewal every three years. For several months, the association Anticor has been waiting for the renewal of this anti-corruption approval.
Faced with this situation, Anticor launched on February 10 on social networks #JesoutiensAnticor and in the media a campaign to draw attention and ask citizens to support its approach
With the support of Voxpublic, an open letter signed by about fifty French associations and collectives was published on The Huffington Post on April 1st to ask for the renewal of Anticor’s accreditation.
The deadline for application was 2 February, but the Prime Minister postponed the decision until 2 April, asking Anticor for more and more details, sometimes unrelated to the rules for granting such approval. In the event of non-renewal, several “cases” brought by Anticor would have been closed.
The decision was made public in a press release issued by Matignon at 10:30 pm on Friday, April 2 before a long weekend… Despite this, Anticor’s victory was widely reported by the media on April 3.
A tweet thanking Anticor to all its supporters, and in particular to VoxPublic, was very successful with more than 1500 shares and 4500 “likes”!
For VoxPublic, after the victory of the FNSF to keep the management of the 3919 hotline, this victory of Anticor proves that, even on politically complicated issues, it is possible to make the voice of civil society heard despite a context marked by multiple attacks against associative freedoms.