Richard Ferrand will make his entry to the Constitutional Council. Parliament narrowly approved this Wednesday, February 19, the appointment of this close to Emmanuel Macron as the president of this institution, on Wednesday, February 19, with one voice. The parliamentarians of the commissions of the two chambers voted by secret bulletin, strengthening the uncertainty around the ballot.
At the end of the vote, 39 parliamentarians voted for the appointment of the former president of the National Assembly and 58 against, while 59 votes would have been necessary to block the appointment to the Constitutional Council. The national rally decided not to obstruct him by abstaining to the National Assembly. The left and right -wing deputies had provided before the ballot they would vote against. It was rather in the Senate, where the LR senators had no intention of common voting, that his appointment played. This was threatened if around fifteen right-wing senators voted against.
Successively auditioned in the Assembly and then in the Senate this Wednesday in the morning, Richard Ferrand, faithful support of Emmanuel Macron who proposed it in this position, would have seen his road barred if three fifths of the votes cast in the two commissions S ‘ opposed his appointment.
“A servant of the Republic”
“I am not a law of law is true, but like you a servant of the Republic,” said this Wednesday morning in his introductory remarks the former socialist then macronist deputy (2012-2022). And to respond immediately to criticism concerning his proximity to the head of state, whom he helped to enter the Elysée, Richard Ferrand assured having “always been […] A free man “.” Independence of mind is my nature and my culture, “he insisted.
The secret ballot, crucial for Richard Ferrand as for Emmanuel Macron who would have undergone a camouflet in the event of rejection, promised to be undecided. But the RN deputies, and their ciotist colleagues, therefore loosened the vice, announcing that they would not take part in the vote. “What did Marine Le Pen negotiated in exchange for his abstention?” Denounced the head of the deputies LFI Mathilde Panot, describing the RN “an eternal ally of Macronie”. “Maybe they seek to spare their rear in the event that” they are coming to power, “said Arthur Delaporte (PS).
“We oppose your appointment as to Emmanuel Macron, who cannot in any case claim, as you suggest, to a third term,” said Mathilde Panot. An allusion to an interview with Richard Ferrand Le Figaro In June 2023, which “personally” regretted “the limitation of the number of consecutive presidential mandates” personally “regretted. “I know article six of our Constitution and naturally, it will apply to the current president as it will apply to others,” he said. A third consecutive term for Emmanuel Macron, this “was never my thought or my desire,” assured Richard Ferrand.
The criticisms of Olivier Marleix
The deputy Olivier Marleix (LR) chained the uppercuts, questioning Richard Ferrand on his independence from the president, his legal skills and his “morality”, because of his indictment for “illegal takeover” In the case of the mutuals of Brittany, where justice concluded that a non-place for prescription.
Richard Ferrand also kicked in touch in the two chambers on a question that agitates parliamentarians, concerning article 11 of the Constitution, which limits the field of questions that can be submitted to a direct referendum.
In the wake of the vote, the left criticized the green light barely given by parliamentarians to Richard Ferrand. “Sponsored by Marine Le Pen and the national rally, appointed to save Emmanuel Macron. What is their secret agreement?” Has deplored Mathilde Panot on the social network X. “All this smells very strongly the secret deal between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen”, also regretted Olivier Marleix on LCP. For the environmental group in the Senate, “Richard Ferrand should not accept this appointment”. In addition, “the President of the Republic must propose a new candidacy which respects several simple principles: a competent and qualified personality to occupy the function of constitutional judge, irreproachable both before the law and in the eyes of the French and above all, beyond of all suspicion of its impartiality with regard to executive power. “