Alexandre Benalla passes on the grill in front of the senators

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Alexandre Benalla and Emmanuel Macron, April 12, 2018. REUTERS / Gonzalo Fuentes

The former collaborator of the head of state indicted for violence in meeting for hitting a protester on May 1 in Paris, has blown hot and cold in recent days. At first, Alexandre Benalla assured that he would not go before the parliamentary inquiry committee of the Senate before changing his mind and admitting that he was forced to go there. He is summoned on September 19 at 8:30 am, along with two other officials, in front of senators waiting for answers about his role in protecting the president.

Even before it took place, this hearing of Alexander Benalla before the Senate on September 19 has taken a political turn, arousing strong reactions to the highest summit of the state.

Christophe Castaner, Secretary of State for relations with the Parliament, also head of the Republic on the march (LREM), denounced a commission of inquiry that would arrogate a power of dismissal of the president. Nicole Belloubet denounced for her part " the instrumentalisation of a personal drift ".

The justice minister also warned senators. " There must be no interference between a parliamentary commission of inquiry and a judicial inquiry ," said the Keeper of the Seals. Why ? In the name of the separation of powers and because the guarantee of rights for the person in question, is not the same before the Parliament and before the judicial institution ".

Senators defend themselves from any drift. Its president, Philippe Bas, does not stop repeating that the commission of inquiry does not interfere with justice. This is a commonplace situation, adds his co-rapporteur, the Loiret Senator Jean-Pierre Sueur. " I see that there is probably a bit of excitement, but that does not happen because we are not judges, we do not decide on sanctions, we do our job," he says. . A parliamentary commission of inquiry is something where one has to look for the truth, look for dysfunctions and propose recommendations to remedy it. We are extremely respectful of the independence of the judiciary and the procedure under way. We do not have to receive injunctions or admonitions from the representatives of the executive power . "

What role does Benalla play at the Elysee Palace ?

The Senate commission of inquiry seeks to establish whether Alexander Benalla has fulfilled a personal protection function of the President of the Republic. This would be a malfunction of state services since this very sensitive function is normally assigned to elite units of the police and the gendarmerie. At this stage, the senatorial commission of inquiry did not have access to the job description of Alexandre Benalla, nor to his payroll.

But for Laurent Franck Lienard, Alexandre Benalla's lawyer, senators are likely to remain unsatisfied. " Senators will have difficulty questioning him because the field of possible interrogations will be very limited ," he says. They can not question him about the current judicial information, which is very broad. Not only Alexander Benalla can not answer the questions that would be asked about the investigation, but especially the senatorial commission of inquiry can not ask questions about the investigation. When we look at the field of possible questions, it's so limited. Finally, I do not even know if senators will be able to ask him any questions. He can not speak of the security of the President of the Republic because it is covered by the secrecy of national defense. He will be able to easily give his job description : Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic. We will not have made much progress and finally, it can not really give a lot of details ".

Senator Jean-Pierre Sueur nevertheless intends to obtain clear and precise answers, while remaining in what he calls his "corridor". " Our corridor is to allow control of the government and evaluation of public policies ," he continues. The protection of high personalities and the President of the Republic is undoubtedly a public policy. Anyone summoned before the parliamentary commission of inquiry must go there, take an oath and answer questions. The people we will hear, that is to say, Mr. Benalla, Mr. Crase [squadron commander on the gendarmerie's operational reserve, filmed by him and also indicted] and Mr. Drouet [former chief of staff of the Prefect of Paris police] will bring their truth, everything will proceed normally and I do not assume that it will be otherwise .

Alexandre Benalla, who must therefore be heard by senators, is very tense according to his lawyer, who promises prosecution if the hearing was to take a character that he deems too political.