the Senate votes to create a commission of inquiry

The Senate voted, Thursday, June 15, by show of hands, the creation of a commission of inquiry in response to the request of a part of the family of Samuel Paty, who wishes that can be established “loopholes” which allowed the assassination of the teacher in 2020. The commission for culture and education and the law commission have asked to be granted the prerogatives attributed to the commissions of inquiry, for a period of six months.

They appointed their respective presidents, Laurent Lafon (centrist) and François-Noël Buffet (LR) as rapporteurs. The title of the joint mission that they will carry out is more general than the single case of Samuel Paty. She “will examine the issue of reporting and dealing with pressure, threats and attacks on teachers”. Work will begin in July and will continue “during the last quarter of 2023”. This commission of inquiry will hear in particular the Ministers of National Education, the Interior and Higher Education currently in office, and “will collect the testimony” by Mickaëlle Paty, sister of Samuel Paty.

In a letter published by the online news site Factual, Mickaëlle Paty last month wished she could “hold accountable those responsible for the mismanagement, mishandling of the threat to [son] brother and the resulting lack of foresight”. She was asking “the opening of a parliamentary inquiry in order to establish the flaws in this tragedy and to try to plug the breaches”.