French deputies protest against the method used by the executive

While the deconfinement strategy must be presented on Tuesday by Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, French President Emmanuel Macron hopes to make it "the plan of the whole Nation". But the head of state is already facing an outcry, the opposition demanding more time to try it.

For several days and until the unveiling of its strategy Tuesday in the Assembly, the executive consults widely, hoping to gain support for its plan for after May 11.

"Concerns" even in the ranks of the majority

Thursday, the mayors were thus received by Emmanuel Macron. The regions and departments, they were by Edouard Philippe on Thursday and Friday, before a new meeting of all these strata of elected officials Monday around the Minister of Territorial Cohesion Jacqueline Gourault and a dozen members of the government. Finally, Tuesday, it is the deputies who will have the primacy of the global plan.

Beyond the debate on digital innovations in the fight against the epidemic of # Covid_19, @EPhilippePM will present Tuesday at 3 p.m. at @AssembleeNat the national strategy of the deconfinement plan.

"Discussions will begin on the implementation methods which could lead, if necessary, to legislative work which we would be seized with in the usual forms", thus assured, Sunday, the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand, in a letter addressed to the deputies.

In this missive, the latter also says to read "with astonishment a certain number of worries" even in the ranks of the majority, after the announcement on Saturday evening of a presentation of the plan only three days later.

A euphemism in the light of the reactions of the oppositions, which shower all hope of the executive to create political unity.                

Impossibility of having "a time of reflection"

In their viewfinder, two major criticisms. First, they denounce the sequence in the same sequence, Tuesday afternoon, of the presentation of the plan, the debate and the vote. A vote which, even if it does not engage the responsibility of the government, will have a strong symbolic significance.

"It seems to be democracy, it's only brutality," protested Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Insoumis deputies. The latter thus described the process as "imposture" and announced his intention to vote against it. "This is how democracy goes in the age of macronism," sighed the boss of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure.

Nobody knows where we are going and we were forced to play a sham democracy on the National Assembly on Tuesday. We will vote against the government's plan because the date of # 11May is hazardous: will we have masks, tests and hydro-alcoholic gel? #DIMPOL

The AN agenda is turned upside down. It will be a single vote on deconfinement, tracking included. Silence demanded in the ranks #LREM! And the plan will be known Tuesday morning for a vote in stride. So goes democracy in the time of Macronism! # COVID2019 https://t.co/U8blsKRHd6

The Republicans, them, deplore the impossibility of having a "time for reflection" and call for a postponement of the vote until Wednesday or Thursday on "this extremely serious subject", said the deputy of Oise, Eric Woerth.

Very present in the ranks of the opposition, the challenge won even those of the majority. "How can the legislator pronounce in serenity on a 'deconfinement plan' when he will discover it only a few minutes before the vote?", Questions LREM MP Martine Wonner in a letter to Richard Ferrand, by also demanding that the ballot be postponed.

A single vote "does not correspond to a sufficient level of democracy"

Second point of tension: the progress of this debate. In fact, it was initially scheduled to take place on May 5, when a vote was scheduled instead on the "Stop Covid" tracking application, which should allow contacts of coronavirus carriers to be traced. The subject had caused a stir within the majority and its dilution in the question of deconfinement is perceived as a political maneuver.

"A single vote on the deconfinement plan (and therefore without the possibility of expressing an opinion on digital tracing as such) and with such a reduced number of deputies, does not correspond, with regard to the issues, to a sufficient level of parliamentary democracy ", thus estimated in a tweet the deputy LREM Aurélien Taché.

A single vote on the deconfinement plan (and therefore without the possibility of pronouncing on the digital tracing as such) and with such a reduced number of deputies, does not correspond, with regard to the stakes, to a sufficient level of parliamentary democracy. #StopCovid #DirectAN

With AFP

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