The deputy (LFI) of Finistère, described as “anti-Semitic” and “factious”, files a complaint against the president of the general council of Finistère

The broadcast of an interview with Maël de Calan, the president of the Finistère Departmental Council, ignited the fire in the Finistère executive. He describes LFI deputy Pierre-Yves Cadalen as “factious” and “anti-Semitic”. The latter filed a complaint for defamation.

It’s a burden that doesn’t pass. An invective, as there often is, between two elected officials from opposite sides. But this time, the courts, called to rule, could clarify things regarding anti-Semitic remarks.

Invited on the set of the Tébéo channel, on December 27, 2024, the president of the Finistère department, Maël de Calan, from the Les Républicains party, begins by regretting that the Socialist Party, which “was a great party”can join forces with La France Insoumise (LFI). His mind heats up when he mentions LFI, described as a party “factious, violent and anti-Semitic”. The journalist then picks it up, “do you think Cadalen is factious and anti-Semitic?”. “Ouireplies the president of the Department, II think that Pierre-Yves Cadalen is factious and anti-Semitic, or in any case, that he supports factious and anti-Semitic positions.”

Ten days later, the LFI deputy, elected in the Brest constituency, targeted by these comments, announced that he was filing a complaint against Maël de Calan for defamation. Pierre-Yves Cadalen writes:“This defamation obviously affects me personally, but also harms my movement and all the citizens I represent.” Asked this Monday, January 20, he refused to comment, indicating only that he “wishes justice to be done.”

According to the Le Robert dictionary, “factieux” means “who exercises against the established power a violent opposition tending to provoke unrest”. The adjective “anti-Semitic” means that one is “inspired by hatred of Jews.”

To read. In Vannes, anti-Semitic tags before the arrival of Christine Angot

On the left, the three parties associated in the New Popular Front, The Ecologists, the PCF and the PS, expressed their support for the deputy France Insoumise. From the Socialist Party, departmental councilor Kévin Faure believes that the words of Maël de Calan “are not worthy of a department president.” The one who, in June 2024, was already attacking the president of the department, accusing him of being “always so quick to flesh out his permanent ministerial candidacy”, invites Maël de Calan to “remain calm and courteous”.

Also departmental advisor, and secretary of the French Communist Party in Finistère, Ismaël Dupont, judges these “dishonest attacks”, “intellectually, politically, and morally”. He explains: “These attacks actually aim to disqualify solidarity with the Palestinian people and criticism of the warlike and colonialist policy of the Israeli far-right government, and the complicity of this policy in Europe and the United States”.

For Europe Écologie Les Verts, departmental councilor Pauline Louis-Joseph-Dogué, elected in one of the cantons of Brest, denounces, for her part, “unworthy and violent personal attacks. They have no basis and undermine both the honor of the person and the quality of public debate, by contributing to fracturing society, flattering the worst instincts, by exciting fears and hatreds.”

Personal attacks, I withdraw them

Maël de Calan

president of the General Council of Finistère

Maël de Calan, for his part, writes: “I don’t know Pierre-Yves Cadalen […] Personal attacks, I withdraw them.” But he believes that rebellious France is “responsible for the rise in anti-Semitism, it describes Hamas as a resistance movement, has still not condemned the attacks of October 7, and has designated our compatriots of the Jewish faith to be vindictive.”

The president of the Departmental Council ensures to wait “looking forward to a legal confrontation, if it must take place, which will be an opportunity to alert public opinion to the anti-Semitic drift of rebellious France.”