Sandrine Rousseau “regrets nothing” of her statements on the accusations against the deputy

“I regret absolutely nothing and you won’t make me regret anything.” Sandrine Rousseau defended her role in the affair which led to the resignation of Julien Bayou, on the set of “Sunday in politics” on France 3, Sunday October 2. In September, his response to a question about the report received by his party had helped to make public the accusations made by a former companion of the general secretary of EELV. She had mentioned behaviors “of a nature to break the moral health of women”.

“I responded as a citizen, at a time when transparency was needed”defends the deputy, questioned about the fact of evoking these accusations despite the absence of a complaint against Julien Bayou. “To protect this fight, there must be people who cannot be accused of being partisan or disloyal to the cause of women, even when it does them a disservice.”

On the eve of the return to parliament, Sandrine Rousseau ensures that she does not have “no problem with him sitting on the benches of the Assembly” until the party’s cell against sexual and gender-based violence has issued its conclusions. Julien Bayou resigned from the post of secretary general of the party and president of the environmental group in the Assembly, but not from his seat as a deputy. “I never called him to quit”she assures.

The former candidate for the primary also defended the activist and the ex-companions of Julie Bayou whose Release revealed on friday (link reserved for subscribers) that they had questioned other former relations of the boss of EELV, and created a channel of discussions to discuss his behavior. “It has nothing to do with ‘surveillance'”believes Sandrine Rousseau, using the term used by Releasewhose article it considers “problem”. “Women have been talking to each other since the dawn of time about men who can put them in danger, and that’s great because it has protected more than one.” She also assures that she was not “completely unaware”.

This article from Release had provoked strong reactions, including among environmentalists. “These actions outside of any framework serve the cause they are supposed to advance and are dangerous for the very people we claim to protect”, worried the former environmentalist presidential candidate Eva Joly. MEP Karima Delli saw it as a “inquisition”.