Reshuffle: Jean-Christophe Combe, director of the Red Cross, replaces Damien Abad as minister of solidarity – Le Monde

The new Minister for Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities, Jean-Christophe Combe, speaks during the handover, on July 4, 2022, in Paris. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP He takes ministerial duties for the first time. Jean-Christophe Combe, Director General of the Red Cross, was appointed Minister for Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities in the second government of Elisabeth Borne, Monday July 4. He takes over from Damien Abad, targeted by a preliminary investigation for attempted rape and ousted from the government after several weeks of controversy. Read also: Reshuffle: Damien Abad finally dismissed from the government Mr. Combe will form a pair with Geneviève Darrieussecq, member of the MoDem and Minister for Veterans during the first five-year term, who is appointed Minister Delegate for People with Disabilities. “I measure the magnitude of the task, he said during the handover, Monday at midday. We are here at the ministry of vulnerabilities, I believe for my part that these vulnerabilities are an opportunity for our society. “Nothing can be done without relying on the people concerned,” he said. He thus makes a promise to listen and dialogue with all the players in the sector, after having listed the “challenges to be met”: “Better reconcile family and professional life, support single parents, fight against child poverty, enable older people to age better and stay in their homes as long as possible. ” No stranger to the political world With the academic Pap Ndiaye in national education and the emergency physician François Braun in health, Jean-Christophe Combe, 40, is the third major figure of civil society within the Borne government. However, he is no stranger to politics. He began his career as a technical adviser to the centrist Union group of the Senate. After a brief stint with the audit firm Deloitte, he also worked for several years with elected officials from the UMP and then the Republicans (LR). A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, he was director of the cabinet of Bruno Bourg-Broc between 2007 and 2009, when the latter was deputy of Marne and mayor of Châlons-en-Champagne. Read also The Red Cross wants to accelerate social innovation From 2009 to 2011, he was director of the cabinet of Emmanuel Lamy, LR mayor of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, before joining the cabinet of the President of the Red Cross French, Jean-François Mattei, in 2011. He held several positions there, including the direction of commitment and associative life, before becoming the general manager, in 2017, of this mastodon of humanitarianism which counts more 17,000 employees and 62,000 volunteers. “I have always been interested in public and political affairs,” he told Le Figaro the year of his appointment. In 2021, he published an essay, Humanity is not negotiable, prefaced by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and written in the light of his experience in managing the Covid crisis. Jean-Christophe Combe pleads there for “a society of social ties”, “a society of proximity”, “a society of care”, “a prepared society”, “a society of the human”. The world