RACISM IN THE ASSEMBLY. Will the racist insults launched by an RN deputy in the Assembly be sanctioned? This is the wish of all political forces with the exception of the extreme right. The office of the hemicycle must render a decision on November 4, 2022.
[Mis à jour le 4 novembre 2022 à 9h07] “I expect the heaviest sanction”. Carlos Martens Bilongo, the deputy La France insoumise (LFI) of Congolese origin challenged by the racist remarks of his far-right colleague Grégoire de Fournas in the Assembly and guest of RMC hopes that the exclusion of the deputy of the National Rally (RN) will be pronounced this Friday, November 4, 2022. The possible sanction targeting the elected Girondin must be discussed this afternoon, at 2:30 p.m., by the office of the lower house of Parliament then the outcry provoked the day before in the Assembly by the sentence deemed racist by Grégoire de Fournas. The man cut off elected Carlos Martens Bilongo with a “Let them go back to Africa” or “Let him go back to Africa” during a speech on illegal immigration. If the RN deputy assured the press and his fellow deputy in a letter published by BFM TV that his remarks were “referring to the boat and the migrants” and not to the elected LFI. However, the other political forces, particularly on the left and on the side of the majority, interpret the racist phrase differently.
The incident caused by this racist insult to the Assembly shows “the true face” of the National Rally according to Carlos Martens Bilongo. “There are 89 RN deputies. They have abject remarks. This is not the first time. There, it targeted my person directly” he added in a sad observation. Yesterday, a few minutes after the discriminating speech of Grégoire de Fournas, the elected LFI declared shocked in front of the press: “Today, I was sent back to my skin color. I was born in France, I am a French deputy. We see the true face of the National Rally. To have me insulted is totally shameful.” The entire political class, in particular the left and the presidential majority, condemns the exit of the deputy and more broadly the National Rally and demands that the exclusion of the deputy be pronounced. It is also the question of the resignation of Grégoire de Fournas which arises according to several politicians including the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, guest of BFM TV this Friday. A petition put online by the majority has been circulating to this effect since yesterday. Emmanuel Macron said for his part “hit” by “intolerable remarks”, according to remarks reported by his entourage and relayed in The Parisian.
Who is the MP behind the racist remarks?
Grégoire de Fournas was elected deputy for the 5th constituency of Gironde during the last legislative elections. He is also a member of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, and rapporteur for the mission to monitor the application of the EGalim 2 law, aimed at better protecting farmers’ remuneration. He has also been elected municipal since 2020, and sat between 2015 and 2021 on the Gironde Departmental Council. Inserted in the RN since 2011, he has in the past made himself known for his positions in favor of the defense of hunting, and has also campaigned against the installation of a wind farm in the town of Lesparre-Médoc, after information from South West. The media Street89 indicates that Grégoire de Fournas has already created controversy in the Médoc with his radical positions “in particular against the reception of young unaccompanied minors”, as well as for “acquaintances with the most racist and anti-Semitic fringes of his audience on his page Facebook”.
Sanctions after racist remarks in the Assembly?
After the outcry aroused by racist insults in the Assembly, the president of the lower house of Parliament Yaël Braun-Pivet announced the holding of an emergency meeting this Friday, November 4 at 2:30 p.m. “to decide on a possible sanction against” by Gregory of Fournas. The left, LFI in the front line, demands the censorship and temporary exclusion of the deputy from the far right, the heaviest possible sanction which would prevent the man from sitting in the Assembly for fifteen days. The presidential majority has launched a petition for the resignation of the RN MP, which was posted on the change.org website.
During the meeting of the Bureau of the National Assembly, around twenty people will be present, including all the group presidents and therefore Marine Le Pen. The leader of the National Rally intends to defend her deputy with the same line of defense against all the other political forces which denounce the racism of the deputy and by extension the ideology of the extreme right.