The official Republican account wrote a controversial message about Algeria on Thursday, May 30 on X (formerly Twitter)—a publication that outrages the left and divides the party chaired by Éric Ciotti.
President and deputy of the French right-wing party Les Républicains (LR), Éric Ciotti attends a debate on the new immigration bill at the National Assembly in Paris, France, December 11, 2023. | MOHAMMED BADRA / EPA/MAXPPP ARCHIVES
A day offensive ten days before the European elections turns into internal controversy among Les Républicains (LR). “Message of service to Algeria, we must take back everything, the goods and the bad: criminals, delinquents, illegal immigrants, OQTF (obligation to leave French territory, an administrative measure, Editor’s note),” wrote on Twitter) Thursday morning May 30, 2024, the LR party, reacting to the list of goods to be returned by France transmitted this Monday by Algiers. A publication that did not fail to provoke a reaction from the left and divide the right.
A communication deemed “unworthy” by Xavier Bertrand
The Republicans, whose list led by François-Xavier Bellamy is stagnating at around 7% in the polls, illustrated their tweet with photos of Algerians celebrating a sporting victory on the Champs-Élysées by brandishing flags of their country. “Let us also send to Algeria the list of delinquents that they must take home,” tweeted the party’s president, Éric Ciotti.
“I strongly condemn this tweet which reflects neither the values nor the history of @lesRepublicains. No electoral calculation authorizes insulting a country and its people, whatever the differences that oppose us,” wrote Xavier Bertrand on Thursday evening on François-Xavier Bellamy, adds the president of Hauts-de-France.
A tweet “worthy of the extreme right” for Olivier Faure
This communication had already provoked indignation among left-wing leaders. “This is how a serious subject, the restitution of goods resulting from colonization, is transformed into a message intended to stir up hatred with pretty amalgams. Worthy of the far-right,” said PS leader Olivier Faure in particular.
“The Republican Right should not try to imitate the populists in the hope of winning a few votes. The campaign courageously led by François-Xavier Bellamy shows that we can do much better,” had already estimated another dissonant LR voice, the deputy for the Territoire de Belfort, Ian Boucard.
François-Xavier Bellamy attacks the Constitutional Council
This episode comes at a time when, on another level, François-Xavier Bellamy went on the offensive on Thursday by denouncing the “political agenda” of the Constitutional Council, after it decided to grant legal aid, including in industrial matters. human and civil rights, in the name of the principle of equality before justice, to foreigners who do not legally reside in France.
“The Constitutional Council, its president Laurent Fabius, have decided to use their responsibilities to serve a political agenda,” criticized the outgoing MEP, after visiting the Administrative Detention Center (CRA) of Vincennes, in the Paris region, where there are 216 people in an irregular situation. “It is the agenda of the left which has always been its own, that of the disarmament of borders,” added the outgoing MEP.
Legal aid for foreigners in an irregular situation
Legal aid has been applied since 1991 in criminal matters and foreigners’ rights for non-French people. In a decision made public on Wednesday, the Constitutional Council considered that in the name of the principle of equality before justice, legal aid should also benefit foreigners in an irregular situation.
For François-Xavier Bellamy, this decision “marks a new stage […] in the disintegration of the very principle of the Nation”, recalling that the Constitutional Council invalidated the shared initiative referendum (RIP) tabled by LR on immigration and rejected the toughening measures added by the right to the immigration law approved in December. The right has virulently contested these decisions each time, with its potential candidate for the Élysée in 2027, Laurent Wauquiez, denouncing “a coup d’état of law”.
