François de Rugy, at the National Assembly on February 11, 2020. -

NICOLAS MESSYASZ

In his work as a parliamentarian, François de Rugy has just obtained a new highly coveted cap.

The former president of the National Assembly (LREM) will head the special committee of deputies who will examine the bill against separatism in January, we learned from a parliamentary source on Saturday.

It is the leader of the deputies "walkers" Christophe Castaner who proposed that the elected representative of Loire-Atlantique chair the commission due to meet for the first time next week.

All groups represented

The passage of this bill before a special committee will allow some 70 deputies from the various standing committees (Laws, Cultural Affairs, etc.) to participate in this legislative stage, before the text passes through the hemicycle.

This special committee, which will include deputies from all political groups, solemnizes the examination of this flagship bill "consolidating the republican principles", wanted by Emmanuel Macron.

More than a hundred LREM applied to participate, and 35 were selected, having various approaches to the central issue of secularism.

Some such as Francis Chouat, François Cormier-Bouligeon and Jean-Baptiste Moreau, have very firm positions on republican values, close to Jean-Michel Blanquer or Manuel Valls.

The deputy president of the LREM deputies Aurore Bergé, of the same sensitivity, will not be part of the special committee.

Other members, more on the left wing like Sacha Houlié, Anne-Christine Lang and Saïd Ahamada, do not want to “radicalize” secularism or stigmatize Islam, and want measures in favor of equal opportunities.

Failed in September

François de Rugy, from the environmental ranks, was a candidate in September to chair the LREM group at the Palais-Bourbon.

Since then, he has been in charge of leading the political council of the majority group.

He has also just been appointed by the LREM party leader for the regional elections in the Pays-de-la-Loire.

Elections

For the 2021 regions, LREM appoints leaders including François de Rugy and Jean-Michel Blanquer

Politics

Structuring Islam, Emmanuel Macron's delicate project

  • Francois de Rugy

  • National Assembly

  • Separatists