Latest news with #Assemblée
LeMonde
3 days ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
Assisted dying could soon become legal in France. This MP was the driving force
In the café of the Assemblée Nationale on Monday, May 26, Olivier Falorni was frequently interrupted as he spoke – either by a fellow MP, stopping by to congratulate him with a handshake, or by one of the many journalists who asked him for a comment. The previous two weeks had been intense for the MP representing Charente-Maritime. He served as the lead rapporteur for two bills, on one palliative care and one on assisted dying, examined by the Assemblée Nationale. His three-day stubble showed that he had let himself enjoy a rare "day off" on Sunday, before tackling the final sprint leading up to the bills' votes in the Assemblée, on Tuesday. It was like a leg in the middle of a long marathon – one that was far from over – to defend assisted dying, a cause he has championed for years, despite all the obstacles in his path. His longstanding advocacy and his role in the two bills on end-of-life care, which were both adopted by the Assemblée Nationale on Tuesday, made him a central figure during the debates. The discussions took place in a calm atmosphere, despite aid in dying being a divisive issue. The lead rapporteur welcomed the serenity, contrasting it to "the violence of the exchanges" around the same-sex marriage law, in 2013, and the Veil law on decriminalizing abortion, in 1975. "This Assemblée will be able to have a collective pride for having managed to, for the first time in history, conduct a [debate on a] major societal issue in a calm way," said Falorni, with his trademark smile.
Local France
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Local France
France adopts new bill to combat drug-related crime
Lawmakers approved the move in a bill passed late Tuesday, in a rare success for the government, whose tough-talking interior and justice ministers Bruno Retailleau and Gérald Darmanin have been pushing for the legislation. The French government has vowed to intensify the fight against narcotics and drug-related crime, with Retailleau saying in February that France was confronting a "white tsunami" of narcotics. The right-leaning Senate backed the bill on Monday and a majority of lawmakers in the lower-house Assemblée gave it a green light on Tuesday evening. The law means some of France's most dangerous drug traffickers will be locked up in two top-security prisons, the first from July, under a system inspired by similar measures in Italy to tackle the mafia. Advertisement The new legislation will also see the creation of a specialised prosecutor's office and national investigation unit to deal with the most complex drug-related crimes. The law also allows prosecutors to keep certain investigation techniques secret from alleged traffickers and their lawyers in very specific cases, in a move that has been criticised on the left as infringing on their right to defence. Darmanin on Tuesday evening hailed parliament's vote as a "big step", while Retailleau welcomed what he called a "decisive stage" allowing authorities to fight "on equal terms against those who poison the lives of our fellow citizens". The hard-left La France Insoumise party voted against the bill, as did several others on the left, over the proposed law being too repressive. The vote came after unknown assailants earlier this month carried out a wave of attacks on vehicles and buildings seemingly intended to intimidate prison guards. Twenty-eight people in total have been detained over the coordinated attacks, according to the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office leading the probe. The attacks are "clearly linked to drug trafficking," Darmanin said on Wednesday morning. Five among those in custody had "fired a Kalashnikov at the homes of prison guards," he told the France Inter radio broadcaster. They did it "because they do not want to go into the prison system that I am currently creating, which aims to isolate them from the rest of the world," Darmanin said. Advertisement The justice minister has pushed for tougher security after assailants last year attacked a prison van carrying drug baron Mohamed Amra at a highway tollbooth, freeing him and killing two prison guards. Amra has since been re-arrested in Romania and extradited back to France, where he is being held at one of the two future high-security prisons. The International Prisons Observatory watchdog has criticised Darmanin's plan, saying it was based on a "security obsession" and included measures violating "human rights".
Local France
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Local France
French villages required to enforce gender parity in local elections
France's parliament on Monday adopted a bill that will extend the 'gender parity' system to municipal elections in small communes. The hotly debated bill received 192 votes in favour (111 against) in the Senate, and it passed the Assemblée with 206 votes for (181 against). Municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants represent 70 percent of France's towns and villages. In town councils, women only represent 37.6 percent of elected officials, compared to 48.5 percent in larger cities. The new gender parity requirement will change the way people in small towns in France vote for their local representatives, bringing it in line with requirements already in place for larger towns and cities. Advertisement How does voting in small municipal elections work? Until now, councillors in towns with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants were elected through a majority vote system , which was intended to be held in two rounds (though sometimes it ends up being one round). The system allowed votes to be counted by candidate, so a candidate could have presented themselves alone or as part of a group. Vote-splitting (voting for candidates on different lists) and preference voting (deleting names) has been permitted, and voters were also allowed to write in the names of preferred candidates. This is called a panachage system. The general idea is that in smaller areas, it can be harder to find people to stand for election. For example, if there are only the exact number of candidates as there are seats available, then voting will go directly to the second round. READ MORE: What you need to know about France's (very complicated) municipal elections How will parity requirements change the voting process? The legislation will take effect from 2026 (the next scheduled municipal elections). At this time, small towns will be treated like any other larger municipality. Basically, this means that voters will have to choose between fixed lists, which have equal gender distributions. This means that mixing candidates from different lists and crossing people out would not be allowed. READ MORE: Does France practice 'diversity, equity and inclusion'? MPs from the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) Party and the right-wing Les Républicains have criticised the push for gender parity in small municipal elections, with some calling for it to only be applied after 2032. "In many municipalities, there will only be one list, so there will be no choice for voters," RN MP Jordan Guitton told the French press . Advocates, like MP Delphine Lingemann from the centrist party MoDem, said: "[Gender] parity must not stop at the gates of large cities."
