Raquel Garrido, who for four months will “no longer be able to be a speaker” for LFI in the National Assembly, considers this sanction “severe”, “humiliating” and deplores the current “concentration of powers” within her party.
“In a democratic society, neither at the state level nor in the parties, there can be no crime of lèse-majesté.” The MP, Raquel Garrido reacts this Tuesday, November 7, on the set of C à Vous, to his sanction by the LFI office for having “harmed the good collective functioning of the parliamentary group”. And in particular for having “denigrated” Jean-Luc Mélenchon. She speaks rather of “criticisms” which “exposed him to disciplinary procedures”.
“France Insoumise is a program, not a man. We could therefore only be Insoumis if we agree with Jean-Luc Mélenchon? No. We must review our strategy,” declares the Seine-Saint MP -denis near from the Parisian.
Raquel Garrido criticizes within her party “a concentration of powers” as planned in the Fifth Republic and which LFI “reproaches the Macronists”.
She deplores that there is around the former presidential candidate, “a temptation of split, of exclusion”.
“Today, our job is to unite, not to divide,” she emphasizes. “And certainly not on the left. What interest do we have in quarreling with the PS and the PCF or even with the union world? Or between Insoumis? None.”
“There can be no crime of lèse-majesté”
The member for Seine-Saint-Denis believes that “La France insoumise can do without Mélenchon” because the party “is intended to live a long time”.
“The candidate can change, retire, change roles. A departure from Mélenchon would not call into question our movement,” she affirms, recalling on the set of C à Vous that she had been loyal to him and had “dedicated his life” for thirty years.
On the other hand, Raquel Garrido is categorical: despite her sanction, she will continue to defend the program of La France insoumise, which she helped to co-found, and is committed to “the unity of the party”.
“We do not have a disagreement on the LFI program, but on the strategy,” she says. […] “I intend to fight to improve my movement.”
A “severe” and “humiliating” sanction
The one – who was ordered to “no longer be a speaker” of La France insoumise in the Assembly for four months, i.e. “half of the ordinary parliamentary session” – says she is “heartbroken” over this decision.
She considers the sanction “severe” and “humiliating”. Especially since its duration is equal to that inflicted in December 2022 on Adrien Quatennens after his conviction for domestic violence. “I take it as an additional infamy,” she assures.
She also deplores the way in which her sanction was taken and speaks of “expeditious justice”.
“Quatennens was entitled to a procedure protecting the rights of the defense. The group of LFI deputies as a whole deliberated for several days before sanctioning him, a procedure to which I was not entitled,” underlines – she said. “I had the impression that management had decided from the start to sanction me.”