The debates promise to be heated. From this Monday, March 17, the senatorial bill aimed at fighting the scourge of drug trafficking will be examined by the deputies. The government does not intend to renounce certain provisions combated by the left and part of the Macronie in the name of the defense of public freedoms. What contrast with the consensual atmosphere in the Senate where the bill “aimed at getting France out of the trap of the narcotrafic”, carried by Étienne Blanc (LR) and Jérôme Durain (PS), had been adopted there unanimously on February 4. One of the main measures of the text provides for the creation of an organized national anti -crime parquet (Pnaco). Its objective: coordinate the judicial fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.
A month later, the left-right divide seems to be back. Thus, the votes should be more shared in the Assembly, in view of the turn of debates in the law committee in early March. The text was certainly adopted there, but with the sole support of the national rally and the government coalition, and after having been amputated by several flagship measures. Socialists – like environmentalists and communists – abstained, although one of their own, Roger Vicot, is co -rapporteur of the text. The rebellious voted against.
The deputies thus deleted an article aimed at obliging the encrypted messaging platforms (signal, WhatsApp, etc.) to allow access to traffickers for intelligence services. The Minister of Digital Clara Chappaz and the President of the Law Commission, Florent Boudié (Renaissance), had themselves shown there. On March 4, the deputy National Rally (RN) of Hérault Aurélien Lopez-Liguori denounced on X “an unacceptable attack on our private life and the security of our communications”.
Also deleted, an article offering the implementation of a “trunk file” or “separate report” allowing to store information gathered via special survey techniques without the lawyers of drug traffickers being able to access it during the legal proceedings. A provision which undermines the principle of contradictory, and of which the deputy Eléonore CAROIT (related to the group together for the Republic), among others, had wished the deletion. This is a disappointment for Aurélien Martini, deputy secretary general of the union union of magistrates who was expressed ins The world : “C ‘is the cold shower, because this backrest folder was a real request for many instructing magistrates. “
“An existential threat”
With Parisian,, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau defended these two articles, which are the subject of amendments to restore the government coalition, stressing that the Council of State “ratified” the “trunk file”. While “narcotrafic is an existential threat” which “threatens our institutions”, he hoped for a “start” of the deputies. The latter “must give the state a founding law because today, we do not fight on equal arms,” he added.
Other measures, voted in committee, will not fail to arouse very lively debates. Thus from the idea of creating a new prison regime of isolation for the most dangerous drug traffickers, carried by the Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin. The idea particularly tense the socialists, who abstained on the text in committee for this reason, according to Roget Vicot. Gérald Darmanin, following in this an opinion from the Council of State, should support the amendment of the rapporteur Vincent Caure bringing “to two years renewable”, rather than four, the duration of assignment in these high security districts.
The generalization of polemical videoconferencing
Also very controversial: the generalization of videoconference for prisoners of high security districts, the transition to 120 hours of police custody for “mules”, remote activation of fixed and mobile electronic devices – as many measures as certain deputies of the “common base” want to reintroduce after their deletion in committee. Guest of CNews on Sunday, the deputy and coordinator of LFI Manuel Bompard denounced a text “ineffective and dangerous”. The deputy LFI Antoine Léaument says he is “hot hot” as approaching the debates, hoping to convince beyond the rebellious ranks.
The mobilization of the four groups of the government coalition, whose representatives were little present in committee, will be one of the keys to the future of the text. “I know that I can count (on LR deputies) to () to support it,” said Bruno Retailleau, dismissing the idea that the apparatus on the right can prejudice the bill, while he is like the boss of the deputies LR Laurent Wauquiez in campaign for the president. Gérald Darmanin, who received representatives from the various groups during the month of March, included, will welcome members of the government coalition on Monday evening.