LFI calls for the establishment of a commission of inquiry into Gérald Darmanin’s anti-drug operations

Supported by their entire parliamentary group, the deputies of La France insoumise Antoine Léaument and Ugo Bernalicis tabled a proposed resolution seeking the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into anti-drug operations, called “Place Net XXL” and put in place by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.

The two elected officials are asking for the establishment of a commission of inquiry after a hiccup that occurred during the launch of an “XXL net square” operation in Strasbourg. Tuesday April 2, the Minister of the Interior announced on X: “Early this morning, 3 new ‘Place Net XXL’ anti-drug operations were launched in Toulouse, Strasbourg and Nantes”. But in the process, the Bas-Rhin prefecture communicated to France Bleu Alsace that an anti-drug operation in Strasbourg was not planned for Tuesday but for Wednesday morning. At midday, the prefecture had backpedaled to align itself with the words of Gérald Darmanin by confirming that the operation had started in the morning in Strasbourg and for a duration of three weeks. This mess around this operation had sparked strong reactions, particularly from the opposition. “The XXL blunder allows drug traffickers to clear their way to escape the operation”thus tackled the LFI deputy of Strasbourg Emmanuel Fernandes.

Publicity stunt or efficiency?

According to the Insoumis deputies, the announcement of this operation on “a fiasco”. “For the Minister of the Interior, faced with drug trafficking, it is more important to communicate than to be effective in the fight”, they write in their proposed resolution. More broadly, by exercising their “drawing right” annual allowing the inclusion on the agenda of a proposed resolution tending to the creation of a commission of inquiry, the LFI elected officials want to analyze the effectiveness of the “XXL Net Place” operations and their cost or even “the problems they pose for the independence of justice”. Also, this commission of inquiry must aim, according to them, to “trace the chain of decisions which led to these highly publicized operations a few weeks before the European elections”they indicate in a press release.

Launched with great fanfare in Marseille on March 19, with the surprise visit of Emmanuel Macron, this campaign then spread throughout the country. Ten days later, the Minister of the Interior praised the effects of these operations which, according to him, produce “lots of effects”.