“If you don’t agree with us, kick us out with a ballot, not with aggression”, declared Sunday January 23 on franceinfo the deputy LREM of Hérault Patrick Vignal, the day after the new aggression of a deputy by anti-pass, in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales). “It is not this society that we want”, he assures, before estimating that “politicians have a responsibility”.
franceinfo: Are local elected officials more in danger today than before?
Patrick Vignal: Of course they are in danger, but that goes beyond elected officials. The whole society is on the verge of burnout. Remember the time of the 2015 attacks. We then had a France that was united, a France that was able to congratulate its police officers. At that time, we already had a political class that was in adversity, despite what had happened.
“Today, the political class has some responsibility for what is happening, in verbal violence, in our thoughts on media platforms. The real debate is that we politicians are trying to to have voters and not to form citizens.”
Patrick Vignal, LREM MPat franceinfo
You can clearly see how society works today, in which you have communication firms that explain to politicians what to say. Look at the moment with the presidential election: we are not talking about projects, we are not talking about ideas, but we are asking ourselves the question of how we are going to thwart the other.
All this infuses society and the real debate is to rediscover the DNA of democracy. Whether we agree or not, it is not possible to insult a parliamentarian. Do you realize that we broke my permanence five times! What bothers me a lot is that we politicians must have another approach to democracy. Words matter and you have to be careful what you say and how you talk.
Do you think that there is therefore too much cacophony today in the political debate?
Yes, there is too much cacophony. Why ? Because everyone wants to say his own. Because each is there only in reserve, wondering how he will trap the other, how he will do to draw up a bad record of the president, how he will put down the socialists, how he will do to talk about immigration . That’s not the France we love! The France we love is a France that speaks to itself, it is not a France that is back to back. This is why we politicians have an overwhelming responsibility.
Since you became an MP, have you changed?
When you have a political mandate, it’s hard. It must be said that we no longer belong to each other. We have to be careful who we go out with, what car we drive in because that’s how it is, because you are a public figure. We have a strained society. We have a society on the verge of chaos. However, it is like that, when one has a political mandate, one must also accept this participation and even this voyeurism.
Do you sometimes think about putting politics aside?
I don’t want to let go. I will continue to hold my meetings. I did nine debates with more than 2,000 yellow vests, and each time I refused to have the gendarmes in the room. I am threatened like many parliamentarians. Do you think I can discuss the economy, our society, with gendarmes and submachine guns next to me? This is not the society we want. It means that the political class has a responsibility and I say it to the citizens: we can solve the problems with the ballot box. If you don’t agree with us, kick us out with a ballot and not with pointless aggression.