What will the major consultation launched on Monday be used for?

It took four months to know the outlines of the last “great consultation” launched under the five-year term of Emmanuel Macron. Announced by the Elysee Palace last June after an interview requested by the two highest magistrates of France – François Molins and Chantal Arens – “worried” about the state of French justice, the “States General of Justice” will be launched this Monday, October 18.

On the occasion of a trip to Poitiers, the Head of State will unveil the schedule and terms of this exercise, which aims to “reconsider” the functioning of justice to “restore” confidence between the institution and the French. But six months before the presidential election, legal professionals are wondering: what will these States General be able to serve?

“It is not justice that speaks to justice. “

“The main idea is to bring together the entire judicial family but also the citizens, slips a source at the Elysee. It should not be justice speaking to justice. A first phase of online consultation will therefore be launched this month and until mid-November. Internet users but also collectives (associations, unions, etc.) will be able to make concrete proposals to improve the functioning of the judicial institution. At the same time, meetings between elected officials, citizens, legal professionals, the judicial protection of young people or the prison administration will be organized at the local level to bring up other proposals.

At the end of this phase, seven thematic working groups bringing together experts and professionals will be responsible until mid-January to assess the proposals made during the consultation, inspired by the “great debate” launched by Emmanuel Macron in response to the “Yellow vests”. According to our information, the themes decided for the moment are seven in number: “Civil justice”, “criminal justice”, “economic and social justice”, “protection justice”, “penitentiary and reintegration justice”, “piloting judicial activities ”and“ evolution of missions and statutes ”.

Proposals that can be “used after 2022”

An independent commission, chaired by the senior official Jean-Marc Sauvé, at the origin of the recent report on sexual violence committed in the Church, will be responsible for formulating concrete proposals in February 2022. To analyze all the work carried out by the working groups, Jean-Marc Sauvé will be accompanied – among others – by the president of the National Bar Council (CNB), the presidents of the Laws Committees of the Senate and the National Assembly, the lawyer Henri Leclerc, the advisor of State Christian Vigouroux or Yves Saint-Geours, member of the Superior Council of the Judiciary.

Launched six months before the presidential election, this consultation should bring out “transpartisan and independent proposals” which can be “used after 2022”. At the Elysee Palace, we insist on this notion of “independence” granted to the commission: “It is she who will make proposals emerge, not the executive! And it is not a question of writing a judicial program “for the presidential election. But in the event of Emmanuel Macron’s candidacy, the Head of State will be able to “pick” the proposals likely to “interest him”, “in the same way as all the other candidates”, qualifies this same source.

With such a tight schedule, the possibility of a last major judicial reform seems unlikely in any case. “If certain proposals can be applied without going through legislative reform, they will be carried by the Minister of Justice”, indicates the Chancellery for its part.

Careful professionals

Within the magistrates’ unions, it is precisely this calendar that questions. “These States General could perhaps have arrived earlier, before initiating multiple judicial reforms throughout the five-year term”, underlines Lucille Rouet, secretary general of the Syndicat de la magistrature. Her colleague from the USM (Union Syndicale des Magistrates), Céline Parisot, agrees: “For us, it happens much too late. In a pre-electoral context, we do not have too many illusions about the final result. “

No question of boycotting the event, however. While many lawyers or magistrates deplored the late organization of the event, the majority of representative organizations have indicated that they would go to Poitiers and participate in the exercise. “The idea is not to be resistant to everything, obviously. But we hope that the format of these States General will not obscure the question which always seems central to us, when we talk about justice: that of financial means and staff, ”concludes Lucille Rouet.

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