Parliament has adopted tougher penalties and fines for travelers who move without authorization.
The Parliament finally adopted Tuesday, October 23, a bill of law Republicans aimed in particular to double the penalties in case of illicit settlements of Travelers.
The Senate adopted unamended, at second reading, by 309 votes (LR, centrist, PS, RDSE radical majority, LREM and Independents) against 8, a text amputated by LREM deputies many of its original provisions.
The text provides for the doubling of the penalties incurred in case of illegal occupation of land by bringing to 12 months imprisonment and a fine of 7,500 euros, as well as the creation of a lump sum fine applicable to this offense.
"A good solution" for Jacqueline Gourault
"We are not satisfied (...), but for now it is important not to miss the opportunity that the remaining measures, all due to the initiative of the Senate, enter into force without delay" , said rapporteur LR Catherine di Folco.
The text "provides concrete answers to the recurrent difficulties caused by the illegal occupation of land," she said.
The Minister of Territorial Cohesion Jacqueline Gourault ruled that Parliament had "arrived at a good solution," recalling that the text was adopted in June in the National Assembly "in terms that receive the agreement of the government . "
The penalty "will always be more effective than a hearing in the Criminal Court , " commented Loïc Hervé (centrist).
The big gatherings will have to be announced three months before
The text obliges to inform the authorities three months before any big gathering or any great passage of Travelers.
It extends to the mayor of any municipality with a reception area the power to prohibit the parking of "mobile residences" in the rest of the communal territory and to ask the prefect to evacuate illegal settlements, even if the grouping of municipalities to which it belongs is not in conformity.
Cyril Pellevat (LR) hailed "a first step" , even if the text was "entirely unraveled" in the National Assembly. The LR deputies did not vote for it.
Jean-Luc Fichet (PS) on the other hand felt that "the shuttle has removed a number of unnecessarily repressive measures . " He praised "a good text that should help ease relations between Travelers and communities" .