Bioethics: just before the parliamentary recess, return of an explosive bill to the Assembly

In this summer period, when many French people are on vacation, politics does not stop. At least not before Friday July 31, the date of the parliamentary recess. While the reshuffle has taken place, reforms must pick up again, at least those that can still be passed quickly.

It is in this context that the examination at second reading of the bioethics bill began Monday, July 27 in the Assembly, decided by the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, in person, who for this extended the ordinary parliamentary session in order to "finish" with this text. The deputies will therefore have to work this week on the 2,500 amendments to this campaign promise by Emmanuel Macron. Examined at first reading in October 2019, this bill divides French society. But while it does not divide opinion as much as it might have been for the law authorizing marriage for all in 2013, a week of law review alone remains a risky bet for a text with such stakes and the "timing" chosen by the executive questions.

Between the holidays after confinement, the health crisis and the uncertainties for the start of the school year, assisted reproduction does not necessarily appear to be a priority. Even if overall, French opinion is not opposed to it: according to an Odoxa Consulting study for Le Figaro in October 2019, two thirds of French people are in favor of assisted reproduction for all.

A calendar that questions

A calendar that appears all the more curious as the legislative process involves a parliamentary shuttle between the National Assembly and the Senate. However, in September, the upper house will not sit because of senatorial elections. As the Conservatives have a majority in the Senate, they will very probably have wanted to further amend the text and will not vote it as it is, after the vote at second reading by the deputies. But when will the Senate then consider the text? For the moment, no date is fixed on the agenda. So why did the executive insist on programming such a divisive company text in the middle of July?

First of all, this law is a commitment of Emmanuel Macron's campaign. While he has already given up on several promised reforms, postponed because of the health and economic crisis, according to the opposition the executive is trying to pass the most "easy" measures and which will bring as few people as possible into the street. The bioethics law would therefore allow the president to appear as a progressive on the political scene.

This examination, in speed, before the parliamentary recess goes badly on the side of the opponents of the bill. Ludovine de La Rochère, president of La Manif pour tous, an association which fights against this presidential commitment, does not budge: "Even if the arrival of the text in the Assembly is the normal legislative process, the period in which it arrives This text is not urgent. And this law concerns only a few people. This health crisis should have brought wisdom. This law is a priority not assumed by Emmanuel Macron and we wonder all the more more than neither the President nor the Prime Minister mentioned during their speeches on July 14 and 15. "

"In addition, democratic debate is not possible, since we cannot organize large demonstrations due to the health crisis. The authorities know it, we have a sense of responsibility and we will not go against it. rules, by demonstrating massively… "

Change of strategy on the side of the opponents who are struggling to mobilize at the end of July. On Monday, they organized a rally of about fifty people in front of the National Assembly where we could see signs "We are the forgotten". 

"Fallacious anti-PMA arguments"

When he said "this France was humiliated, Emmanuel Macron had given us a rather positive signal, continues the president of La Manif pour tous. But he is Machiavellian, he does not listen. While he wants to give direction Green in his five-year term, he does the opposite with this law which is not at all green, but for him, it has a political interest. He declared himself progressive, but we are in obscurantism. "

For Coralie Dubost, LREM MP and co-rapporteur of the bill, "this text had to be voted for a long time. We have already fallen behind. Initially, the second reading was to take place in February. But with confinement, the process has been delayed. This is a second reading, so there is no debate, we are here to refine the text. " "The arguments of the anti-LDCs are fallacious, insists the MP, whatever the timetable, the law does not suit them. Their arguments are wrong." "[Three years to pass a law,] it's not too fast," she said. "We have to move forward. At the start of the school year, there will be other priorities."

But beyond this calendar, the question of the signal sent to the electorate of Emmanuel Macron also arises. Accused of being disconnected from the concerns of the French, the President could pay a heavy price in the polls, if ever the return to school was economically catastrophic.

Emmanuel Macron could "pay a high price"

Chloé Morin, expert of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, believes in Le Figaro that Emmanuel Macron must juggle the two sides of his majority. And this measure could allow "to calm somewhat a majority whose left wing tastes rather little to the government casting". And at the start of the school year, the government will have other priorities, analyzes Chloé Morin: "If the social plans follow one another all summer, the inaction trial is likely to be violent when the French return from their summer vacation [...] . What if the government doesn't seem to be fully focused on health, order, and the economy. "

Emmanuel Macron thus seems to apply his already proven strategy of the famous "at the same time". The president, who has already delighted part of the Republicans electorate, is still trying to grab all the votes possible on his right, especially on security issues. To do this, he puts forward in his communication his liberal economic reforms, while passing on to the Assembly a text supported by his left wing. A signal to the right, a signal to the left: Monday afternoon, a so-called "left" measure arrived in the Assembly to be voted on, while in the evening: the president supported the police forces mobilized at night, during a trip to a Parisian police station. 

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