It is a completely new format that this joint session of the two chambers of Parliament: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will make an intervention on Wednesday March 23 before the National Assembly and the Senate simultaneously. This is the first videoconference also in the hemicycle of the National Assembly, in front of compact benches.
President Richard Ferrand wrote to the 577 deputies on Friday to ask them to mobilize, to be massively present. On the side of the presidential candidates who also happen to be parliamentarians, an absentee: the communist Fabien Roussel. “Do not see it as a political choice“, justifies the one who has just lost his stepfather. “I will be with my partner and our family”, he explains.
On Wednesday, I will not be at the National Assembly when Volodymyr Zelensky will speak there.
Do not see it as a political choice.
I had the pain of losing my father-in-law and I chose to be on Wednesday alongside my companion and our family.
— Fabien Roussel (@Fabien_Roussel) March 22, 2022
Jean-Luc Mélenchon will be in the hemicycle. Just like Marine Le Pen, who changed her mind, since she had initially announced that she would not be there.
Monday, in the 8.30 franceinfo, Marine Le Pen had explained that long-standing commitments would keep her away from the Palais Bourbon. And then in the wake of this interview, she joined her HQ, not far from the Maison de la Radio, for the traditional campaign office.
Zelensky at the Assembly on Wednesday ➡️ “I will not be present”, announces Marine Le Pen. “I showed my solidarity with the Ukrainian people.” “As we have done anything with the right of asylum for years, all of our reception structures are saturated” pic.twitter.com/CQmeV16YcY
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) March 21, 2022
In the meantime, his sentence has sparked a flood of criticism, in the Macron camp in particular, on the air of complacency towards Vladimir Putin. “It was not difficult to convince her” to move the agenda, “it didn’t take a quarter of an hour”, details his team.
The obligations mentioned on franceinfo are staggered – including the interview at Overseas 2022, the public service political program that Marine Le Pen wanted to do before going to Guadeloupe this weekend. The National Rally announces that its candidate will indeed be at the Assembly for the hearing of Zelensky. To her troops, she explains: “I don’t want to give my opponents a grip on ambiguity.” Especially since she believes she has “well managed so far this sequence” Russia-Ukraine.
A little before 3 p.m., this Wednesday, March 23, the presidents of the two chambers of Parliament will each enter their hemicycle, surrounded by Ukrainian flags. From the Senate, Gérard Larcher will say the first words, a few minutes followed by the introduction of Richard Ferrand from the Assembly. Then will come the fifteen to twenty minutes of intervention by Volodymyr Zelensky, by videoconference: he will see the parliamentarians on his screen in kyiv. In the galleries of the Assembly will be present the Ukrainian ambassador to France and the ambassadors of the G7 countries.
Once the session is closed, the Parliamentary Liaison Committee on Ukraine – the group presidents – will meet at Matignon with Jean Castex for a situation update.