MComment “embarrassing”, deputy “shocked”, “disgust”: several elected representatives of the left-wing coalition Nupes castigated Tuesday June 28 the reference to French Algeria in the inaugural speech of the dean RN of the National Assembly José Gonzalez, in opening of the new legislature. In a brief speech, the elected official of Bouches-du-Rhône, pied-noir born in Oran, spoke of his native land from which he was “ripped”. “I left a part of my France and a lot of friends there”, at the independence of Algeria in 1962, he said, interrupting himself for a moment under the influence of emotion .
The leader of the environmental group Julien Bayou said he was “shocked”, even if the dean was “cautious and mentioned his personal case”. “It’s really problematic. We did not applaud. “The RN wants to show its credentials, but it explodes from the first speech,” commented his fellow EELV deputy Sandrine Rousseau. The president of the LFI group Mathilde Panot accused the RN of “apologizing for French Algeria and the crimes of colonization”. The rebellious Thomas Portes expressed his “disgust”. “It was quite embarrassing”, also judged the number 1 of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure in front of the press.
“We, the repatriated from Algeria […] we left a part of France that we loved there. It was important to say that we loved France from there and that we love France from here. We are true patriots”, justified José Gonzalez, 79, at the microphone of LCP. In the rest of his more classic speech, José Gonzalez hailed a “symbol of French unity” with the gathering of all the deputies at the Palais-Bourbon, “a place of history” and “of hope”.
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For Bardella, a “moving and unifying speech”
RN President Jordan Bardella generally praised a “moving and unifying speech […] What a contrast with the scruffy zadist of LFI who refuses to shake hands with his opponents. The former leader of the National Front, which has become National Rally, Jean-Marie Le Pen, intends to call José Gonzalez to congratulate him and meet him, indicated his adviser Lorrain de Saint-Affrique, who welcomes a speech “of balance and ‘remarkable finesse’.
The rules provide that the oldest member chairs the first session. This is not a first for the far right. In 1986, an ally of the National Front, Édouard Frédéric-Dupont, opened the 8e legislature in place of Marcel Dassault, older but ill. José Gonzalez also paid tribute to these two political leaders.
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