In the midst of the controversy over the slowness of the judicial machine, Emmanuel Macron launches, Monday, October 18, in Poitiers, "States General of Justice".

The objective: to develop proposals for "overhauling" the system for 2022.

These States General will bring together for several months, in working groups, the entire justice ecosystem: judges, prosecutors, clerks, auxiliaries, lawyers, bailiffs, prison supervisors ... as well as volunteer citizens, according to the Elysee Palace. .

They had been called for in early June by the two highest magistrates in France, Chantal Arens, first president of the Court of Cassation, and François Molins, the general prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, worried about "systematic challenges to justice" , criticized for its slowness and accused of laxity by police unions and political leaders.

Received by the Head of State, they spoke of the discomfort of the judges and called for this exercise.

Unease exacerbated following a large demonstration, on May 19, of tens of thousands of police officers in front of the National Assembly, in the presence in particular of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and many elected LR and RN, but also some left-wing figures, including Anne Hidalgo and Yannick Jadot, candidates for 2022.

Uneasiness of magistrates

The malaise of the magistrates intervenes in full tension between a part of the magistrature and the Keeper of the Seals Eric Dupond-Moretti, indicted in July for "illegal taking of interests".

The minister is suspected of having taken advantage of his office to settle accounts with magistrates with whom he had trouble when he was a lawyer, which he refutes.

For their part, the two senior magistrates denounce an "under-budgeted" justice, very far for example from the level of Germany.

In response, the Elysee argues an increase in the number of magistrates since 2017 (650) and a 33% increase in the justice budget over the five-year term.

In Poitiers, Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by the Keeper of the Seals, will deliver a speech at the Palais des Congrès and discuss with professionals, law enforcement, students and citizens of Vienne.

These States General, the presidency promised, will be organized in complete independence from the executive.

The consultations, which will take place throughout France, will be piloted by an independent commission, chaired by the senior official Jean-Marc Sauvé, already head of the commission of inquiry into the sexual abuse of minors in the Church.

For a post-2022 reform

This Commission will also include the two senior magistrates as well as the chairmen of the Law Committees of the Assembly and the Senate, to ensure a "transpartisan" approach, the Elysee said.

At the end of February, it will formulate proposals, which will be submitted to the executive. 

The Commission will have "carte blanche" for "a complete overhaul", promises the Elysee.

It is therefore a question of going much further than the current "law for confidence in the judicial institution", currently being examined in Parliament, a flagship measure of which is to be able to film the trials.

As for the fate of the proposals that will emerge, the presidency assures us that "everything that may come under the regulations will be carried as quickly as possible, with pragmatism. The Minister of Justice will be responsible for managing this until the elections".

On the other hand, since the Assembly will have finished its session, which will end at the end of February, a month and a half before the presidential election, everything that will come under the law, including what requires budgetary financing, will have to wait for the next five-year term.

These proposals could therefore provide Emmanuel Macron with a program framework for a possible second term, even if the Elysee denies such an intention.

"It is not the president who asked for these States General to have his program written down," insists an adviser.

These proposals will join those that the president is starting to spell out for a deadline going beyond April 2022, so many potential bricks of a future program.

Like the France 2030 investment plan, the 2022 planning and orientation bill for internal security (Lopsi), which should plan action in the field of security over five years.

Or the experimentation in Marseille of "schools of the future" whose directors could choose the teachers.

With AFP

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