Only four days after his appointment, the new prime minister continues the controversies. After that triggered by his presence at the Pau municipal council, François Bayrou was criticized in the hemicycle on Tuesday, still on the subject of the crisis in Mayotte.
The new prime minister continues the controversies. On Monday, François Bayrou was criticized for his presence at the Pau municipal council, instead of having traveled to Mayotte. On Tuesday, he once again caused an outcry from the opposition by considering the archipelago heavily affected by Cyclone Chido as being outside the “national territory”.
During questions to the Prime Minister, the environmentalist deputy Steevy Gustave questioned him on his presence in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques rather than on the soil of the overseas territory. “While Mayotte mourns its dead and searches for its missing, while so many citizens are mobilizing, it is incomprehensible to us that you have favored a municipal council, Mr. Prime Minister, rather than going there, this choice commits you. What should the Mahorean people think of a government that looks the other way while they suffer?he asked.
The head of government then defended himself from possible disinterest by explaining that “the President of the Republic announced that he would go to Mayotte” and that“it is not customary for the prime minister and the president to leave the national territory at the same time”provoking the indignation of many elected officials from the opposition. Because Mayotte is indeed a French department.
“Shipwreck”
Elected officials from La France insoumise quickly reacted on social networks, like Clémence Guetté, deputy and vice-president of the National Assembly, who reminded the Prime Minister that “Mayotte is France”qualifying his remarks as “shame”on X. The elected LFI Thomas Portes denounced a “colonial response” in a tweet, before adding: “What contempt!”. François Piquemal, LFI deputy for Haute-Garonne, even demanded that François Bayrou and “Macron must leave”.
For the communist senator from Paris, Ian Brossat, the words of the head of government represent a “shipwreck” policy. “Mayotte would not be on national territory according to Bayrou. We understand better why he preferred to attend the Pau municipal council”he underlined on X. Sandrine Rousseau also qualified the terms of François Bayrou as “shipwreck” as he left the hemicycle. According to the environmentalist MP, the sentence pronounced by the Prime Minister is “lunar” et “amazing”. “I already felt overwhelmed after a few days” at her post, she whispered.
“Every day a scandal”
But the left is not the only one to be scandalized. On the side of the National Rally, Caroline Parmentier, MP for Pas-de-Calais, spoke “a new blunder” of the Prime Minister, when the elected official of the same party, Guillaume Bigot, tweeted: “The Bayrou advent calendar offers you a scandal every day.”
Still in a tone of sarcasm, the deputy for Haute-Saône, Antoine Villedieu, declared on X: “Can someone explain to the Prime Minister that Mayotte is an overseas department, and therefore part of the national territory”accompanied by a smiley. Jorys Bovet, elected RN in Allier, stressed on X that François Bayrou’s speech was his “first intervention in the National Assembly”.
Florian Philippot, former vice-president of the National Front and now president of the right-wing sovereignist Patriotes party, even introduced the prime minister “Bayrou-the catastrophe”on X this Wednesday. “We have never seen a prime minister get off to such a catastrophic start! And the PS and RN deputies refuse to censor it: is it a joke?!”he denounced.
Related News :