France: parliamentary debate on French policies in the Sahel
Operation Barkhane in Mali (illustrative image).
Some parties are calling for the maintenance of French military missions abroad to be voted on by Parliament.
AFP - DAPHNE BENOIT
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A debate on French policies in the Sahel is being held this Thursday, March 4 at the National Assembly.
Discussions which will be attended by the Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly.
Because the Barkhane operation should be widely discussed by the deputies: certain parties ask for example that the maintenance of the French military missions abroad is from now on voted by the Parliament.
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It was April 22, 2013. A little over three months after the launch of Operation Serval in Mali, French parliamentarians approved the extension of the military mission.
Eight years later, Serval became Barkhane, and Parliament was no longer consulted.
Indeed, the Constitution does not impose it.
And it is a problem, according to the deputy La France rebellious Bastien Lachaud: “
It is not possible that the president alone, decides on the sending of the troops and their maintenance on the spot.
We are still talking about 55 dead, hundreds of injured, several billion euros, all at the discretion of one person, the president, without any democratic debate.
"
A vote every three months?
The rebels would like a vote every three months.
But for Sereine Mauborgne, member of the majority and co-rapporteur of the Assembly's fact-finding mission on Operation Barkhane, this parliamentary control is complicated to set up: “
In terms of display vis-à-vis of the enemy that we are fighting, vis-à-vis our forces, because the soldiers need visibility in their actions, that would mean that we are slowing down the material contributions, because there would be uncertainty on the outcome of the vote, that does not seem to me very rational in fact.
"
For the member, an alternative could be the consultation of Parliament at each change of legislature.
But a consultation without a binding vote.
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To read also:
G5 Sahel summit: the French force Barkhane at the crossroads
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