Pascal Canfin, Macronist MEP and President of the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, judged, Sunday, September 25 in the program Questions Politiques on France Inter, “insupportable” Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s tweet of support for Adrien Quatennens.
While the LFI deputy had confessed to having slapped his ex-wife and announced his withdrawal from the coordination of his party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon publicly supported Adrien Quatennens on Twitter denouncing “police malice, media voyeurism, social networks”. Additionally, he praised the “dignity” and the “courage” member without a word for his companion. The tweet from the leader of La France insoumise triggered a wave of outraged reactions.
Police malice, media voyeurism, social networks were invited in the conflictual divorce of Adrien and Céline Quatennens. Adrien decides to take it all on himself. I salute his dignity and his courage. I tell him my confidence and my affection.
— Jean-Luc Melenchon (@JLMelenchon) September 18, 2022
“Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s tweet is unbearable. He basically says: who is legitimate in this case? He’s my right arm, because deep down, he’s nice and I like him. There’s no word, no word, not even an adjective, nothing to relate to the potential victim. Nothing! That’s what you have to break.” reacted Pascal Canfin.
“Anyone can do better, me too”, admitted Saturday Jean-Luc Mélenchon, guest of the program Quelle époque! on France 2. He says “accept criticism” on his decried reaction to the Quatennens affair. But according to the MEP, the generational argument which could explain the reaction of Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not hold: “There are people who are much older than me and who are very aware of the relationship of domination and who have fought against it all their lives. It’s a bit easy to say that it’s a generational effect because it exempted part of French society from responsibility for the change”, he explained.
The fight against violence against women is “a new challenge”, according to him. “We face now. We assume the fact that we no longer want this relationship of violent male domination, but sometimes not violent, but just as dominating”, he continued.
Pascal Canfin did not wish to speak on the merits of the case: “I have nothing to say about the particular cases of Julien Bayou, nor about LFI” and “even if I had something to say about it, I have, by construction, no legitimacy to speak about it”.
“We have to hammer, hammer, hammer and organize ourselves so that it is no longer possible”
Pascal Canfin, Macronist MEPat franceinfo
Julien Bayou, national secretary of the Europe Ecologie-Les Verts party also finds himself in the storm after the testimony of Sandrine Rousseau last Monday in the program “C à vous”. The elected ecologist had testified on the psychological state of the ex-companion of Julien Bayou that she had received at her home. The latter would have informed him of “behaviours which are likely to break the moral health of women”.