“We cannot wait for court decisions to make decisions”, estimated this Tuesday, September 27 on franceinfo Laurence Rossignol, vice-president of the Senate, former minister of women’s rights and president of the Women’s Assembly, after the resignation of Julien Bayou from his post as national secretary of Europe Écologie-Les Greens (EELV). He is accused of psychological violence by his ex-girlfriend.
>> Julien Bayou’s lawyer denounces “the instrumentalization of the just fight against sexual and gender-based violence for political purposes”
“We, the political world, we must have our own ethics” as have, for example, the doctors with the council of the Order, adds the former minister. The socialist senator calls on left-wing parties in particular to “get around the table to establish their code of ethics”.
franceinfo: The Bayou and Quatennens cases are extremely different, but their common point is that the two men withdrew from their party without any conviction having been pronounced by the courts. Are you saying congratulations or is it going too far?
Laurence Rossignol, Vice-President of the Senate, President of the Women’s Assembly: These cases reveal one thing, it is that we cannot be stuck on court decisions because there are many cases in which the facts are proven, unacceptable, and yet justice, for different reasons, n could not sanction the authors. We, the political world, we must have our own ethics, which is different from the Criminal Code and court decisions. This is the case for many activities.
However, aren’t ethics and the work of justice two different things?
These are two different things, but we cannot wait and be bound by court decisions to make our own decisions. As proof of this, for example, the Nicolas Hulot affair. No one today doubts the facts with which he is accused. Another example: the Patrick Poivre d’Arvor case. Everyone knows that what the victims have denounced is true and yet there is a first decision to classify without follow-up due to prescription. We must therefore have our own ethics. Gender-based and sexual violence are not eligible. There is a revolution going on which is a feminist revolution. Women no longer want to suffer abuse of power, sexual assault. No one can dispute that they take place in places where there is a lot of power and where the power is essentially masculine. In the Julien Bayou case, there are indeed dysfunctions. This case is for me an additional element to plead for the writing of a code of ethics common to political formations.
What is wrong with this Julien Bayou affair? Whether it’s a revelation on live television from Sandrine Rousseau?
These things are not resolved on television. What is needed, in my opinion, is for there to be a commission which is not simply made up of political personalities, but also of people from associations, specialists. This commission must instruct and must respect essential and unavoidable principles. The defense first, that is to say that the person in question must be able to be heard. Second, the contradictory. For example, doctors have a Council of the Order which makes decisions on medical ethics and is not subject to and dependent on justice. We must put the same procedure in place because it is unacceptable that men continue to show off their political mandates, their responsibilities and give lessons to all of France on what to do or not to do, while at the same time, we know that they committed rapes, sexual assaults. I therefore appeal to Fabien Roussel, Olivier Faure, to the coordinator of La France Insoumise, to all the parties which have included feminism in their own charter to sit down around the table and draw up a Code of ethics