“I dedicate this distinction to the internal security forces,” said the lawyer by profession on Saturday 17 December. The mayor of Dijon praised the “respect for history, respect for secularism, respect for the Republic” shown by the recipient.
The day after the Vaulx-en-Velin fire, François Rebsamen expressed his “greatest sympathy” for the victims.
Blue ribbon for a “Blues” defender, not as a footballer but as a lawyer for agents of the internal security forces.
Hence the Interior Minister’s proposal to appoint Maître Jean-Philippe Morel to the rank of Knight of the National Order of Merit. What was recorded by a decree of June 20 took shape, on Saturday December 17, 2022, with a badge delivery ceremony presided over by François Rebsamen (PS, FP), mayor of Dijon.
The “blue room” of the Palazzo Comunale hosted the presentation of the distinction of the same colour. A choice that invites us to turn metaphors. Surrounding the mayor and the addressee are numerous elected officials – including two deputies from the Radical Party, Didier Martin and David Valence –, military authorities, local representatives of the National Order of Merit and relatives.
“So you are at the heart of this case”
Opting for the judicial metaphor, François Rebsamen begins the ceremony by praising the recipient: “You are used to words, to long pleas to defend and convince. (…) We are changing roles a bit today even if here there is no defendant, no civil party, no risk of conviction. My job is simply to make your path a man, that of a convinced man, passionate about his work, truly committed, in the noble sense of the term. You are therefore at the center of this affair, the one that brings us together today”.
Born in 1973 in Bordeaux, Jean-Philippe Morel grew up in the Côte-d’Or. He received his baccalaureate from the Lycée Carnot and studied law at the University of Burgundy. He did his military service in the diplomatic cell of the Elysée. After a DEA in law, he obtained a certificate of aptitude for the legal profession in 1998. He He joined the Paris Bar in 1999, then the Dijon Bar in 2004.
“You are the advocate of the institutions of the Republic”
“You become a recognized lawyer pretty quickly. (…) He has been defending the forces of order on the Gold Coast for twenty years. You are the lawyer of the institutions of the Republic, of the judicial agent of the State in the Côte-d’Or department since 2014 as well as that of the agents of the prison administration since 2019 and the brilliant representative of the “national professional association of military gendarmes and citizens and a Côte-d’Or police union,” says François Rebsamen. “Take up this specialization with discretion and genius, driven by a lofty idea of the values of the Republic”.
Despite this discretion, Maître Jean-Philippe Morel has some media trials to his credit, such as that of the “boxer of the yellow vests” defending two gendarmes or that of the looting of the Arc de Triomphe representing the association Halte au plillage du patrimony archeological (HAPPAH ).
The mayor of Dijon expresses his “compassion” for the victims of the Vaulx-en-Velin fire
In Dijon, in the trial of the arsonist at the Adoma residence which took place in 2010, the lawyer represented 200 people who had filed a civil action.
The tragedy that caused 7 deaths and 190 injuries is still very present in Dijon’s memory, so the mayor expresses his “deep sadness” and his “greatest compassion” for the victims of the fire that occurred on the night between the 15th and December 16, in Vaulx-en-Velin (Rhône), causing 10 dead and 24 wounded.
“I called the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin to show her our solidarity, that of the whole city council. I pay tribute to the firefighters who attended the scene. There are tragedies whose memory never fades”, adds the mayor of Dijon.
Political background
In 1999, a member of the Radical Party, Jean-Philippe Morel began his political duties by becoming a councilor of COMADI, the Dijon district, during the last term of Dijon mayor Robert Poujade (RPR). In 2008, he became opposition city councilor in Longvic.
In 2020, he joined the list led by François Rebsamen and entered the Dijon city council and the metropolitan council. He became vice-president of the Métropole before leaving this function to become deputy mayor of Dijon in 2022, delegate for veterans, the duty of memory, civic engagement and national defense (read our article).
“That’s what was needed: respect for history, respect for secularism, respect for the Republic,” underlines François Rebsamen.
Jean-Philippe Morel is president of the Côte-d’Or federation of the Radical Party (read our article).
Volunteering
At the associative level, since 2007, Jean-Philippe Morel has been honorary president of the Edgar Faure association (1908-1988). A member of the Radical Party, Edgar Faure was President of the Council of Ministers during the Fourth Republic, several times Minister and President of the National Assembly (1973-1978). The association awards the Edgar-Faure prize for political literature every year in Paris.
Jean-Philippe Morel also participates in the actions of the association of former students of the Lycée Carnot, the association for the memory of Jewish deportees, the Academy of Arts and Fine Letters of Dijon and the brotherhood of the Knights of Tastevin.
Furthermore, Jean-Philippe Morel has been an officer of the Order of Academic Palms since 2017.
“I dedicate this distinction to the internal security forces”
Opting this time for the football metaphor, in connection with the commitment of other “Blues” during the 2022 World Cup, Jean-Philippe Morel declares that “when you receive a decoration, it’s a bit like a half-time match”. “We’re taking the time to look back at the action in the game and project a bit into the second half that’s about to start.”
“I dedicate this distinction to the internal security forces: national police, gendarmerie, prison administration which I have defended as a lawyer for almost twenty years. I would like to thank the many State officials present today who, in their ranks and qualities, dedicate themselves daily to these essential missions to preserve social ties ”, continues the recipient.
In turn, Jean-Philippe Morel pays homage to Edgar Faure recalling that he was a professor of Roman law in Dijon, a lawyer and representative of France at the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War.
Returning to the present, the new deputy mayor salutes the “metamorphosis” of Dijon initiated in 2001 by François Rebsamen. “A city that has been beautified, developed, that shines today with formidable resources.”
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
