Ophelie Artaud
modified to
11:54 a.m., February 12, 2023
The image caused controversy. The one where the deputy of Nupes, Thomas Portes, staged himself on Twitter, his foot on a ball bearing the image of Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labor. The photo, strongly criticized in particular by the deputies of the majority, created strong tensions within the hemicycle this Thursday. Finally, the National Assembly decided to exclude Thomas Portes for 15 days. A decision that Sandrine Rousseau regrets. Guest of the Grand Rendez-vous d’Europe 1/ CNews/ Les Échos this Sunday, the deputy Europe Écologie Les Verts (EELV) recognizes that if “it’s a clumsy tweet”, she considers that “a reminder of the rules was enough, there was no need to exclude a deputy for 15 days”.
“His tweet was awkward”
Comparing this affair to that of the deputy of the National Assembly, Grégoire de Fournas, who had also been sanctioned with 15 days of exclusion last November after racist remarks in the National Assembly, Sandrine Rousseau underlines that “he had a remark which fell under the law. [le tweet de Thomas Portes, NDLR] it is not beyond the law, and it does not take place in a hemicycle.”
“This tweet is clumsy, I’m not going to tell you the opposite, but I had the impression that LREM finally found a pretext on which to press”, advances Sandrine Rousseau. As for the fact that Thomas Portes refused to apologize, MP EELV explains that he “did not want to do it because he considers that it is a right to caricature. His tweet was clumsy, but I say it solemnly, it did not in any way require an exclusion”, she insists at the microphone of the Grand Rendez-vous.
“Divert attention from the main problem: pension reform”
As for the fact that this image can be perceived as intimidation of an elected official, “we all receive intimidation and threats”, continues Sandrine Rousseau. “For example, I filed five complaints: there is one that gave rise to work of general interest for more than 100 hours and that’s it. Today, there is nothing. So why all of a sudden, there is this kind of runaway?”
According to MP EELV, “there was also a desire to say that ‘it’s them [la Nupes, NDLR] the problem’ and divert everyone’s attention from the main problem: pension reform. That LREM assumes this strategy”, she concluded.