Convicted of violence against his ex-girlfriend, Adrien Quatennens reinstated in the LFI group

Adrien Quatennens, MP for La France insoumise du Nord, was reinstated in the LFI group in the National Assembly. AFP/Gérard Julien

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The reinstatement of the deputy of the North Adrien Quatennens to the group La France insoumise in the National Assembly, provoked strong reactions, including by his partners of the Nupes.

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There was a vote. The decision is to reinstate Adrien Quatennens," said Alma Dufour, MP for La France insoumise (LFI). Sentenced in December to a four-month suspended prison sentence for "violence" against his wife, Adrien Quatennens was suspended on 13 December for four months from the group of deputies of LFI, the largest left-wing party in the Assembly, until 13 April.

The MP had ruled out resigning from his mandate as MP, denouncing a "media lynching". The LFI group, which had conditioned its return to the follow-up of a course of empowerment with feminist associations, "considers that the conditions for the reintegration of Adrien Quatennens are met," according to a statement.

Return to the National Assembly in mid-January

He also said he "regretted the media expressions he had following his conviction" and "acknowledges that some of his remarks had the effect, without his intention, of relativizing the seriousness of the facts and reversing the guilt between the perpetrator and the victim of violence," the group continues.

Adrien Quatennens returned to the National Assembly in mid-January, as a non-attached. Partners in the left-wing coalition Nupes (made up, in addition to LFI, of ecologists, communists and socialists) considered that he should be definitively excluded from La France insoumise. "The investigation concluded that I had recognized: a slap given in a context of dispute, more than a year ago and never reproduced, and the sending of too many amorous SMS following a misunderstood divorce announcement," said Adrien Quatennens.

The Socialist Party condemns this reinstatement

This reintegration is criticised by several partners of the Nupes, the left-wing coalition. Among the socialists, the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, internal opponent of the First Secretary of the PS Olivier Faure, denounced "the shame" of such a decision, as did the opposition current Refoundations of Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, which intends to make this subject a factor of fracture with the left coalition.

In a statement, the PS considers that the deputy of the North "can no longer be a member of the Nupes authorities". "The decision of the parliamentary group of La France insoumise to reinstate Adrien Quatennens, while he admitted his guilt in acts of violence against his wife, is both unacceptable, and incompatible with the values defended and carried by the Nupes," the PS wrote in its statement.

🔴 The LFI group's decision to reinstate Adrien Quatennens is unacceptable and incompatible with the values defended and promoted by the left.

The Socialist Party considers that it can no longer be a member of the #NUPES authorities.

➡️ https://t.co/vXOf9864La pic.twitter.com/k71vrFdEpN

— Socialist Party (@partisocialiste) April 11, 2023

Among the ecologists, the leader of the group in the National Assembly Cyrielle Chatelain also considered that Adrien Quatennens could not "return to the heart of the intergroup" Nupes.

The rebels in the National Assembly decided to reinstate Adrien #Quatennens. We would not have done it.

EELV reaffirms its commitment to the fight against all forms of violence against women. We do not want him to participate in NUPES bodies.

— EELV (@EELV) April 11, 2023

Several elected ecologists had also left the hemicycle in February during the first speech of the deputy since his conviction. His intervention had also provoked boos and clapping of desks in the ranks of the majority. The leader of the Renaissance deputies Aurore Bergé also tried, in vain, in March to pass a bill that intended to impose a sentence of ineligibility to more perpetrators of violence, including domestic or intra-family violence.

(

With AFP)

► Read also: France: Deputy Adrien Quatennens sentenced to suspended prison for "violence" on his wife

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