“If necessary, we will launch a parliamentary initiative referendum process,” declares communist Fabien Roussel

The national secretary of the PCF accuses the government of “denial of democracy”. Through his Minister for Foreign Trade, Franck Riester, he announced at the end of March that the bill would not be sent to the National Assembly before the European elections on June 9.

Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the Communist Party, threatened Tuesday April 9 on franceinfo to launch “a parliamentary initiative referendum process” if a vote is not organized in the National Assembly on CETA, the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada. The Senate has already rejected it, against presidential advice.

But for the moment no date announced. It is not certain that MPs will be required to make a decision before the European elections on June 9. This could be subject to “political manipulation”, according to the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet. On the contrary, for Fabien Roussel, “It’s an opportunity to be fully informed. Who is going to vote for what? I would like the French to be able to vote in the European elections knowing what each party voted for”he argued.

The elected official from the North denounces “the denial of democracy” of the government and assures that it does not want “that we can vote in the Assembly”. Fabien Roussel wishes to take advantage of his parliamentary niche on May 30 to propose “a draft resolution which will take up the terms” from the text of Ceta “for the Assembly to express itself”. This vote would have no legal value to counter Ceta, which has already applied for 7 years. According to him, “the parliamentary initiative referendum” would be the right way to stop the free trade agreement.

But Valérie Heyer, head of the Renaissance list for the European elections, explained in March on franceinfo that CETA “could be able” apply even if the Assembly and the Senate reject it. Effectively, “the government is not obliged to notify the vote of the two assemblies to the Commission”agreed Fabien Roussel. “The French were cheated in 2005 during the referendum on the European constitutional treaty. They would be cheated a second time on a free trade agreement which, in the long term, will harm our livestock and our agriculture”he explained.

The elected official from the North warns the government against any temptation to ignore democratic expression: “Afterwards we are surprised that people no longer go to vote, that they express their anger through demonstrations which can sometimes be violent. But the violence is at home. The violence is political. When a government refuses to act “express democracy, if necessary, we will go to the referendum, we will ask for a referendum, we will lead a democratic, citizen campaign”, he explained.