Submarine crisis: no commission of inquiry in the Senate, the Socialists protest

The Socialist group in the Senate denounced Wednesday a

after the decision of the office of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defense not to create a commission of inquiry into the cancellation by Australia of a mega-contract of under - French sailors.

Read alsoCrisis des submarines: "The" contract of the century "also reflects a cultural gap between the French and the Anglo-Saxons"

"The senatorial right acts the incompetence of the Parliament to exercise its power of control of the executive yet guaranteed by the Constitution"

, affirmed in a press release the senators PS who had called for such a commission of inquiry in September. "

lamented spokesman Rachid Temal during the group's weekly press briefing.

The Senate had not immediately closed the door to the creation of such a commission, but had initially wished to favor a series of hearings.

Wednesday,

LR chairman of the commission, Christian Cambon, told AFP.

He recalled that it had heard ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian and Florence Parly, as well as the director of the foreign intelligence service (DGSE), Bernard Emié, and the CEO of Naval Group, Pierre Eric Pommellet.

he added.

Information mission

Christian Cambon specified that the Parliamentary Intelligence Delegation would focus on the intelligence component, which is more confidential.

He also proposed a fact-finding mission on

, which will start in 2022, after the referendum on independence scheduled for December 12 in New Caledonia.

The September 15 announcement of a strategic partnership between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, which resulted in the cancellation of a French submarine mega-contract in Canberra, sparked a major diplomatic crisis between France and the United States.