Philippe sweeps mayors' concerns over the risk of prosecution

• The government has put the delicate question of whether or not to open schools as part of deconfinement on the mayors.
• Several initiatives by parliamentarians have emerged to better protect mayors from possible legal proceedings in the event of contamination of agents or parents of students.
• Edouard Philippe assured that the current legal framework was already sufficiently balanced.

In a week, France begins its deconfinement. But many questions remain unanswered. Among them, the delicate reopening of schools. Many mayors have already indicated that they will not reopen them from May 11, including fearing legal action if the coronavirus spreads. Before the Senate, this Monday, Edouard Philippe responded, in his own way, to their concerns.

Why are mayors worried?

The government has placed the delicate issue of whether or not to open their establishments on the mayors, who are responsible for nursery and elementary schools and their canteens. But this decision arouses the fear of some city officials, while several members of the government are already the subject of criminal complaints for their management of the health crisis. "Some elected officials are afraid to give agreement on the reopening of schools, because there is always the risk that a family whose child would find themselves contaminated, accuse the mayor of not having taken the right measures", summarizes Philippe Laurent, UDI mayor of Sceaux and secretary general of the Association of Mayors of France.

AMF President LR François Baroin asked Thursday that the mayors should not become “suicide bombers” in matters of criminal responsibility in the implementation of deconfinement measures, and be associated in “co-decision” with the prefects. Sunday, 329 mayors of Ile-de-France, including PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, also wrote to Emmanuel Macron to ask "the State [not] to disengage from its responsibility in the reopening of schools May 11 ".

Several initiatives to protect elected officials

In this context, several proposals have flourished in order to further protect mayors. Some 138 deputies and 19 senators from La République en Marche announced in the JDD that they were going to propose better “legal protection” for mayors.

The senators, for their part, adopted an amendment within the framework of the prolongation of the state of health emergency examined in the hemicycle this Monday late afternoon. The text defines a “specific regime” of criminal responsibility for “all those, employers, local elected representatives, civil servants, who will be led to take measures intended to allow a return to economic and social life”, according to the explanatory memorandum. The centrist and PS groups also defend proposals to ensure legal security for mayors. "Beyond the law, there is a signal of confidence to give," said the president of the centrist group Hervé Marseille to AFP. "It is a matter of saying to elected officials:" Do not be afraid to commit yourself "".

These initiatives are welcomed in particular by the Association of Small Towns in France which, in a press release, supports "any amendment which would provide that the personal criminal liability of mayors and persons acting on their delegation can only be engaged in the event of violation manifestly deliberate of an administrative health police measure ".

[Press release] Reopening of classes: mayors must be reassured https://t.co/v5eQbyGXc6

Edouard Philippe kicks in touch

Before the Senate, Edouard Philippe put the pressure, indicating that the closure of schools was "a disaster" for vulnerable children. The Prime Minister also said he was "clearly reserved" on the possibility of changing the law to "mitigate responsibility", considering the current case law quite "balanced".

Clarify the law, recall the case law, which obliges the judge to take into account the means available and the state of knowledge at the time when action was taken, or not taken? Yes. Mitigate responsibility? I am much more reserved. https://t.co/9iAa9vVrQ1

"It is by no means a coincidence that the words of the Fauchon law have not changed for 20 years," pointed out the head of government. The current legal regime, continued Edouard Philippe, "has not prevented, for 20 years, from taking decisions". "I bear witness to this: neither as mayor nor as prime minister, I was not prevented from taking the decisions that I felt I had to take in light of the powers and means that were mine," added the former mayor. from Le Havre. In conclusion, the head of government, however, left it to the "wisdom" of parliamentarians to eventually legislate.

“From a legal point of view, the Prime Minister is not wrong. But in the context, the subject became political. We should therefore respond to the concern of mayors. Staying straight in your boots would risk maintaining suspicion, ”says Philippe Laurent. If this concern was not heard by the executive, LR senators have indicated that they will seize the Constitutional Council, as their boss Bruno Retailleau indicated to the JDD  .

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• Mayor
• epidemic
• Covid 19
• Edouard Philippe
• Coronavirus