The president of the French Nationwide Meeting, Yaël Braun-Pivet, has warned of the rising variety of threats and strain on parliamentarians, which she stated was linked to the continued pressure surrounding a deliberate reform of the nation’s pension system.
Throughout an impromptu press briefing on Tuesday (7 February), the president expressed her concern in regards to the rising violence in public debate, together with within the meeting, significantly within the context of the pension reform, which plans to boost the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
The parliament started reviewing the reform on Monday (6 February), in a very stressed ambiance.
Among the many newest occasions, the president of the social affairs committee, Fadila Khattabi, who’s main the controversy, acquired a letter containing racist insults and threats in opposition to her and her household. In keeping with a number of media experiences, the letter contained an unidentified powder.
Shortly earlier than the controversy started, Antoine Vermorel-Marques, a deputy for the conservative Les Républicains (LR / EPP), shared a message telling him to “be careful” relating to voting and notifying him that he was being “carefully watched”.
Then, through the first session, at the least three feminine MPs from the far-right Rassemblement Nationwide (RN / ID) acquired prank calls claiming {that a} relative of theirs had been taken to hospital. The callers haven’t but been recognized.
The goal of the calls was in all probability to make the MPs depart the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the Nationwide Meeting, at a time when their presence was important for the validity of a referendum movement that the group had tabled.
As well as, on Tuesday morning, activists from the anti-globalisation organisation Attac tagged the door of the Nationwide Meeting and the statue of the Legislation’s pedestal, in entrance of the Palais Bourbon, with washable ink.
As well as, the workplaces of a number of MPs have been vandalised over the previous couple of months and Braun-Pivet referred to as these acts “threats to democracy”.
She stated that “these actions, these pressures, these intimidations are unacceptable” and confused that the establishment “will stand by every MP threatened within the line of responsibility”, urging each elected consultant who has been pressured to file a grievance.
The president additionally voiced hope that “calm and serenity” can be quickly restored as a result of “debates should be held peacefully in our chamber”.
Given the content material of the threats, Braun-Pivet confirmed to the press that “the hyperlink with pension reform is obvious”.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
