This Thursday, July 6, the LR parliamentarians oscillated between communication operation and truancy. In the morning, at party headquarters, Éric Ciotti, Olivier Marleix and Bruno Retailleau presented a series of measures to “restore public order” after the riots: return of minimum sentences, lowering of the criminal majority to 16, doubling of closed educational centers for minors by 2027, suspension of family allowances for school absenteeism or delinquency, forfeiture of nationality of dual nationals convicted of crimes… “Our texts are ready, assured Éric Ciotti. Faced with chaos, we supported the action of the police and therefore of the Minister of the Interior. Any controversy would have been senseless in the midst of a veritable urban guerrilla war. But now is the time for conclusions and action. »
The caciques of the party saturated the media space, but the LR deputies deserted the Palais-Bourbon in the afternoon, in the heart of the examination of the justice bill carried by Éric Dupond-Moretti. Philippe Gosselin, speaker of the right for this text, was very alone to defend the amendments of his camp in the hemicycle. “I don’t know why there were so few of us,” mutters Patrick Hetzel, MP for Bas-Rhin, visibly embarrassed. The RN deputies, on the other hand, remained silent during the debate, defending almost no amendments.
While Éric Ciotti challenges the government on his right and threatens not to support the justice law, the law commissioner Philippe Gosselin, who does not close the door to a favorable vote, had more measured words. He expressed his interest in “restorative justice”, little put forward by LR, and broke away from Bruno Retailleau who forged a link between immigration and the riots, speaking of “regression towards ethnic origins “. “I don’t put all the naturalized people on trial or those who have become French of the second or third generation,” he explained on the set of LCP.
At Les Républicains, some do not fully adhere to the elements of security language. “Obviously, a certain firmness is necessary, recognizes Patrick Hetzel. But I’m not a prison fan at all either. Systematic individual confinement is not necessarily the solution; the question of prison overcrowding must be raised. »
The presidential camp wonders about this helm to starboard rue de Vaugirard, which ends up completing the hypothesis of a coalition. “The right is doing the RN a favor, scratches the macronist deputy Sacha Houlié. Who can believe that the right is credible on the subject, given its record? Everyone realizes that, when it comes to immigration and security, they are one-upmanship. “We are not aligned with the extreme right, defends Patrick Hetzel. These are measures already proposed by Éric Ciotti for years. »
The majority fears that the polarization of LR on the sovereign will freeze discussions on the Dupond-Moretti law and, above all, on the text on immigration. “The Justice Law is a technical and financial text, there is a certain lack of interest. But I find it difficult for the right not to vote 7.5 billion euros for justice! says Sacha Houlié. As for the conditions set by LR on immigration – tougher state medical aid, derogations from European rules – that’s all we don’t want. It is therefore complicated in this case to negotiate. I recommend that we assume and that we go to the vote on this law. We can see if the right takes its responsibilities. »
The majority – especially the left wing – is attached to the creation of a “jobs in tension” residence permit, a red line for the right, while many elected officials on their side approach their prefecture about files of workers without papers. Between a right more and more stuck to the RN and a relative majority torn by the “at the same time”, the discussions are bogged down.
