This is a real blow for Horizons. Denouncing the “manoeuvres” of their allies in the presidential majority and a “mess”, the Horizons deputies withdrew their bill to fight against recidivism on Thursday, after being beaten in the hemicycle on its flagship measure.
Article I, which provided for a minimum sentence of one year’s imprisonment for repeated violent offenses against public officials, was rejected by 98 votes to 87. The author of the text, Naïma Moutchou, announced after a recess that his group, linked to former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, was withdrawing him.
“It costs me and it costs my group. I was ready to fight, argument against argument, conviction against conviction. I was less ready for dirty tricks, I must tell you, friends, for maneuvers, for procedural blows… What a waste, ”she said in front of the Assembly.
“We were expected on this subject” and “we are not above-ground deputies”, added Ms. Moutchou. “We will continue to stand up for our beliefs on this subject. The Renaissance and MoDem allies had come out against the bill, seeing in it the return of the “minimum penalties” dear to Nicolas Sarkozy.
The left was also against, unlike the right and the RN. The debates which lasted all morning gave rise to long interventions by the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti, headwind against the text, as well as other speakers. Lawmakers on the left and right have pointed to a “form of obstruction.”
