Minister of the Interior (France)

The Minister of the Interior (French: Ministre de l'Intérieur; French pronunciation: ​[ministɛʁ də lɛ̃teˈʁjœʁ]) is an important position in the Government of France. The office is equivalent to the Interior Minister of other countries, like the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, the Minister of Public Safety in Canada or similar to a combination of the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security in the United States.

Minister of the Interior Ministre de l'Intérieur
Incumbent Gérald Darmanin since 6 July 2020
Ministry of the Interior
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	President of the Republic Prime Minister
Seat	Hôtel de Beauvau, Paris 8^e, France
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	President of the Republic
Term length	No fixed term
Formation	7 August 1790
Website	www.interieur.gouv.fr

Responsibilities

The Minister of the Interior is responsible for the following:

• The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes
  • including the major law-enforcement forces
    • the National Police
    • the National Gendarmerie for its police operations; as a part of the French Armed Forces, the Gendarmerie is administratively under the purview of the Ministry of Armed Forces
  • General directorate for civil defence and crisis management (Sécurité Civile)
    • the directorate of Firefighters (Sapeurs-Pompiers)
• the granting of identity documents (passports, identity cards) and driving licenses through the network of prefectures and subprefectures
• relations between the central government and local governments
• logistics and organisation of political elections, at the national and prefectoral levels; the results of the elections are overseen by the Constitutional Council or the administrative courts
• regulation of immigration and preventing illegal immigration
• integration of legal immigrants (professionally, linguistically, housing)
• all regional and departmental prefects and subprefects are subordinate to the Minister of the Interior

The Minister of the Interior also takes on the role of the former Minister of Worship and is formally consulted in the process of appointment of Catholic diocesan bishops (Briand-Ceretti Agreement). The Minister of Worship used to be a fully-fledged minister; the position was abolished in 1912.

While the Ministry of the Interior supervises police forces, it does not supervise criminal enquiries. Those enquiries are conducted under the supervision of the judiciary.

Location

Office of the Minister of the Interior

The ministry's headquarters are located on Place Beauvau, facing the Élysée Palace. "Place Beauvau" is often used as a metonym for the ministry.

Organisation

Official logo

The Minister of the Interior has been Gérald Darmanin since 6 July 2020. He succeeded Christophe Castaner, who was appointed to the office on 16 October 2018. Darmanin is assisted by Marlène Schiappa, who holds the junior title of Minister for Citizenship in the government of Prime Minister Jean Castex.

See also

• List of Interior Ministers of France

References

External links

• Official website (in French)