the government wants to increase the criminal penalties against people who attack elected officials

The government wants to increase the criminal penalties in the event of attacks against elected officials, which will be considered as serious as attacks against police officers, said Wednesday, May 17, the Minister of Territorial Communities, Dominique Faure.

>> Violence against elected officials: what the plan announced by the Minister for Local Authorities Dominique Faure contains

“We obviously need to stop this infernal spiral of violence against elected officials in our Republic. It is absolutely unacceptable”, said Dominique Faure at Matignon where she had just participated in a meeting with Elisabeth Borne and the resigning mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins (Loire-Atlantique), Yannick Morez.

Up to seven years in prison

By aligning the penalties for attacks on elected officials with those for attacks on uniformed personnel (police, gendarmes, firefighters, etc.), these penalties will go up to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros (for more than 8 ITT days), instead of 3 years and a fine of 75,000 euros. These measures, which had been censored by the Constitutional Council in the law on internal security (Lopmi), will be integrated into the draft law on justice, said the minister.

Threatened by the far right and victim of arson, the mayor of Saint-Brevin confirmed its decision on Wednesday: “my political career ends today”. His resignation cast a harsh light on violence against elected officials, which continued to increase in 2023, after a 32% increase in 2022, according to the Ministry of the Interior.