Overview
- The prime minister has ordered mandatory, unannounced saliva tests for ministers, their advisers and senior civil servants who hold security‑sensitive roles.
- The government frames the measure as a credibility and security step and says it is one element of a roughly 50‑point plan against drug trafficking.
- A surprise test at the Hôtel de Matignon reportedly found the prime minister and his staff clean, a detail the government has highlighted in defence of the policy.
- Legal experts and former officials have raised privacy and labour‑law objections and questioned the value of saliva testing because it only detects very recent use.
- Some parliamentarians want the checks extended to MPs while key implementation questions remain unanswered, including who will run tests, how results are handled and what penalties apply.