Coronavirus: in France, the opposition finds oxygen

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe during a questions to government session with a limited number of elected representatives in the hemicyle in Paris, April 21, 2020. Jacques Witt / POOL / AFP

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In France, the National Assembly relaxes its restricted format. From next week, 75 deputies will be allowed to sit in the hemicycle, compared to around 20 at present, health prudence requires. A victory for the opposition, especially the right.

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The day after a letter signed by 35 deputies Les Républicains (LR), a letter regretting that the budget review had taken place "  according to a degraded procedure  ", the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand decided to allow 75 parliamentarians to return to sit at the Palais Bourbon against twenty for the past few weeks.

An initiative welcomed by Damien Abad, leader of the right in the Assembly. "  For us it is very important that democracy is not put on hold, it is very important that Parliament can continue its role of action to control the government. "

Same satisfaction on the left. For communists, for example, virtual democracy has shown its limits. Allusion to meetings by videoconference which have multiplied since the beginning of confinement to maintain parliamentary work or rather " simulated parliamentarism  ", snarls a socialist elected official.

Because beyond the physical presence at the Palais Bourbon, what the opposition wants in the face of a government on all fronts is to find oxygen. Illustration on tracking and deconfinement  : under pressure from the right, but also from the left, the government finally accepted that the debates planned for in the Assembly be followed by votes. However, non-binding votes.

► Read also: In France, the opposition obtains a vote in principle on the StopCovid project

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  • Coronavirus
  • France
  • French politics

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