Several ministers in the Barnier government participated in the vote on several major societal laws in the past. Discover their vote, sometimes still contested today.
The Barnier government met for a first Council of Ministers on Monday, September 23 at 3 p.m. in the presence of the Prime Minister, but also of Emmanuel Macron. During this meeting, which lasted only half an hour, the president reportedly called on the new ministers to “remain in a process of compromise”, to “demonstrate a spirit of dialogue” among themselves and “with the French people who have not all made this choice”. Words that were not necessarily taken literally after the first tensions observed between Bruno Retailleau and Didier Migaud, suggesting a complex relationship between the Interior and Justice.
And the Head of State’s wish for compromise makes perfect sense in light of everyone’s sensitivities, particularly when observing the votes of some and others when deciding the fate of major societal laws. While senators or deputies, some members of the new Barnier government had to decide on the inclusion of theIVG in the Constitution or the law opening marriage to same-sex couples. An overview of each person’s votes through four significant texts from recent years.
2024: inclusion of IVG in the Constitution
The constitutional law of March 8, 2024 includes a single article that amends Article 34 of the Constitution, to state that “The law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to women to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy is exercised.” In other words, it is a question of prohibiting, in the future, any challenge to this freedom by law. France became the first country in the world to recognize in its Constitution the freedom to have recourse to abortion. The law was promulgated on March 8, 2024 and published in the Official Journal on March 9, 2024. This constitutional revision received 780 votes in favor, and 72 against. Of the 39 ministers in the Barnier government, 20 took part in the vote. All of them spoke out in favour of including abortion in the Constitution, except for three of them: Bruno Retailleau (Interior), Patrick Hetzel (Higher Education and Research) and Laurence Garnier, Secretary of State.responsible for Consumption, with the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry. François-Noël Buffet (Minister to the Prime Minister, responsible for Overseas Territories) and Annie Genevard (Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry), abstained.
2022: law banning conversion therapy
The law to ban conversion therapies was adopted on January 25, 2022. Therapies that are based on a simple idea that homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender identity are diseases that need to be cured. Practices that have harmful effects on the physical and mental health of the people concerned. We are talking about interviews, internships, exorcism or even hormone injections. Be careful, there is no medical basis to justify this type of technique. This is why the law to ban these conversion therapies was published in the Official Journal on February 1, 2022. The text highlights a new offense, prohibiting “practices, behaviors or repeated statements aimed at modifying or repressing the sexual orientation or gender identity, real or supposed, of a person”. The penalty is 2 years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros. At the time, the majority of parliamentarians who are now part of Michel Barnier’s government team voted for this law. Only two new ministers opposed this text, Bruno Retailleau (Minister of the Interior) and Laurence Garnier, Secretary of State.responsible for Consumption, with the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry.
2021: bioethics law opening PMA to all
The revision of the bioethics law extended medically assisted procreation to all women who have a parental project, to homosexual couples and to single people. The infertility criterion was removed. A woman now has the possibility of freezing her eggs without medical reasons in order to become a mother. This law, promulgated on August 2, 2021, also allows for double gamete donation. On the Senate benches, the subject is still sensitive. At the time, the senators had decided to adopt a preliminary question in committee, before the third and final reading in session. Result: no new discussion was initiated. In the Lower House, in the National Assembly, several deputies who are now ministers in the Barnier government had opposed this 2021 bioethics law. Annie Genevard (Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry), Patrick Hetzel (Minister of Higher Education and Research) and Paul Christophe (Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Equality between Women and Men), were part of it. Conversely, Guillaume Kasbarian (Minister of the Civil Service, Simplification and Transformation of Public Action), Anne Genetet (Minister of National Education), and Laurent Saint-Martin (Minister to the Prime Minister, responsible for the Budget and Public Accounts) voted for it. For his part, as Le Monde recalls, the new tenant of Beauvau Bruno Retailleau had the article opening PMA to all removed during a previous reading in the Senate.
2013: law opening marriage to same-sex couples
Adopted by Parliament on April 23, 2013, the law opening marriage to same-sex couples was promulgated on May 17, 2013.The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) recorded 70,659 same-sex marriages between 2013 and 2022. At the time, France became the 14th country in the world to authorize same-sex marriage. The adoption of the law brought by the Minister of Justice, Christiane Taubira, had sparked strong criticism from certain sections of society. Eleven years ago, Catherine Vautrin, nowMinister for Partnership with the Territories and Decentralization, Annie Genevard (Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry), Patrick Hetzel (Minister of Higher Education and Research) had all voted against. In the Senate, Bruno Retailleau (Minister of the Interior), Sophie Primas (responsible for Foreign Trade and French People Abroad, with the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs) and François-Noël Buffet (Minister to the Prime Minister, responsible for Overseas Territories) had voted against Article 1, which states that “marriage is contracted by two persons of different or the same sex”. Only Thani Mohamed Soilihi,responsible for Francophonie and International Partnerships, reporting to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, voted for it.