Sacha Houlié, Aymeric Caron, Aurélien Pradié: they campaign in political parties with very different colors and readings of society. However, they have two things in common. The first, they turn out to be media figures. The second, they took advantage of the summer to pull a divisive proposal out of their hats. In reaction to the decision of the administrative court of Paris to suspend the expulsion of the radical imam Hassan Iquioussen to Morocco, the Republican Aurélien Pradié pleaded last week for the creation of a “Cour de sécurité” in the terrorism cases. The rebellious Aymeric Caron wants to relaunch the debate around the ban on bullfighting while Sacha Houlié, who embodies the left wing of the majority, wants to offer the right to vote to foreigners in municipal elections. “The bill is a low-cost communication tool, deciphers Benjamin Morel, political scientist and specialist in institutions. When political rock stars are on vacation, it imposes itself as a way of getting people talking about themselves.”
Rejected by the executive and by a good part of the majority, these projects have no chance of being adopted by Parliament. However, they were presented with great pomp on the waves of the radios, in the columns of the newspapers. “There is an individual strategy aimed at occupying media space by playing on debates already established in society. actually has no chance of succeeding,” adds Benjamin Morel.
Beyond the position of the government on these sensitive issues in public opinion, the place reserved for the legislative proposals of deputies is meager. The political groups only have a few days a year to vote on the texts presented by them. While nearly all legislative proposals are not even studied by Parliament for lack of time, it is almost impossible for the attention of the hemicycle to be focused on a summer proposal.
“Most of the proposals respond to a desire for political positioning by showing that we are active on this or that subject. They allow us to speak to an electorate and respond to the concerns of our constituency”, supports Benjamin Morel. This is how Aurélien Pradié revived the debate on the Security Court. We also lend to the secretary general of LR the ambition to run for the presidency of his party left vacant by Christian Jacob. It’s not neutral to hear about him right now. For Aymeric Caron, this is an opportunity for the former juggler of Laurent Ruquier’s Saturday evening show to talk about a political fight that is dear to him: the animal condition. Same attempt to monopolize the media space at the PS: around thirty elected officials took advantage of the summer torpor to plead, in a forum published by Le Monde, in favor of the legalization of cannabis in France.
The proposal put forward by Sacha Houlié was relaunched by two socialist presidents, who failed to put it in place. The MP tabled a bill on August 9 to “grant the right to vote and stand as a candidate in municipal elections” to all foreigners, even non-Europeans. But the majority remains divided on the subject, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, and the Secretary of State in charge of youth and the UNS, Sarah El Haïry, have already shown their opposition. “It’s clever on the part of Sacha Houlié, this display allows him to exist politically in the face of Gérald Darmanin. The Minister of the Interior having particularly been on the front of the stage during the summer. There is the will , in this way, to make the left wing of the Republic in March heard”, recalls Benjamin Morel.