This archive report was first published on 3 July 2020.
Published on July 3, 2020, the French government has announced plans to launch an inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic by former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and two former health ministers, Agnes Buzyn and Olivier Veran.
According to senior prosecutor Francois Molins, the inquiry will be led by the Law Court of the Republic (CJR), which deals with claims of ministerial misconduct.
The CJR has received 90 complaints and examined 53 of them, with nine complaints deemed admissible and forming the basis of the inquiry.
The inquiry will consider whether Philippe, Buzyn, and Veran neglected their duties in the face of a disaster, which has left 29,875 people dead in France so far.
The coronavirus outbreak has sparked anger against the government over a lack of protective equipment in the early stages of the pandemic.
