Castex establishes a commission for "a new writing" of article 24 - France 24

Paris (AFP)

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Thursday evening that he was going to set up "an independent commission responsible for proposing a new writing of article 24" of the proposed law "Global security", said Matignon.

The contentious article, voted on at first reading by the National Assembly and which must be submitted to the Senate, provides for penalizing the malicious dissemination of the image of police and gendarmes.

It is all the more criticized by the oppositions as a succession of cases of alleged police violence have aroused emotion in the country in recent days.

The commission, created on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin and which will see at its head the president of the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights (CNCDH), Jean-Marc Burguburu, must return its work "for the end of the month of December ".

The objective is to "usefully feed the examination of the bill on + global security" in January in the Senate while respecting the prerogatives of national representation, "the Prime Minister said.

Jean Castex announced the creation of this commission after a meeting with a delegation of press editors 'unions and representatives of journalists' collectives, including Reporters Without Borders, but boycotted by journalists 'unions and journalists' companies.

Thursday evening, the parliamentary group of The Republic on the march to the National Assembly, however, said on Twitter "attached to parliamentary work", in a hollow criticism of the approach of Jean Castex.

"The examination of the bill for comprehensive security will continue in Parliament; the deputies of the LREM group will play their full part", warned the elected Macronists, while the text "Global security" is at the initiative of two parliamentarians from the majority, and not from that of the government.

In an internal message addressed to his troops and which AFP was able to consult, the group's boss and ex-Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, also indicated that he had told the Prime Minister of his "astonishment" at the creation of this commission.

"I asked him that the object of this commission, beyond article 24, also relates to the right to inform and the freedom of the press", he indicates, while affirming his will that " the national representation continues to pursue its own mission "and that the deputies of its group" (take) their full part ".

© 2020 AFP