It's never too late! MEPs moved slowly on an urgent and burning issue: the creation of an anti-harassment cell. Such a body, their fellow senators already set it up in autumn 2018 and the European Parliament in 2014. But, aware of this delay, the office of the National Assembly adopted its principle last November, to entry into force on January 1, 2020.
"The cell will be professionalized and we are in the process of recruiting medical, legal and psychological skills, specialized in moral and sexual harassment," said a member of the office to explain why the cell is still not in place.
These professionals will be accessible by telephone "to allow easier access in particular for parliamentary assistants in constituencies", insisted the Assembly. The public concerned by this cell includes not only the deputies and the collaborators, but also the personnel of the services, "thus much broader than the Senate or the European Parliament", slips a deputy of the majority. For several months, many elected officials and collaborators have been sounding the alarm. Encouraged by the general context of #MeToo and in the wake of a study by the Jean Jaurès Foundation which denounced the delay taken by the Assembly in this area.
Complaint against the vice-president of the delegation for women's rights
Last September, Richard Ferrand, the President of the Assembly, received two letters, the first from the inter-union of representatives of parliamentary collaborators, the second from the collective Chair collaboratrice. At the same time, on September 3, La Dépêche du Midi revealed that a preliminary investigation against LREM deputy from Haute-Garonne Pierre Cabaré had been opened by the Toulouse prosecutor's office, following a complaint for "moral harassment, sexual harassment and sexual assault ”from his former collaborator.
The deputy filed a complaint for slanderous denunciation and resigned from his post of vice-president of the delegation for women's rights in the Assembly at the request of its president.
No internal sanction
Particularity of this cell "made in National Assembly": contrary to what prevails in the European Parliament and in the Senate, no instruction or internal sanction are envisaged. "It is justice that is competent in this matter," we assume in the entourage of the President of the Assembly.
A preference which, however, is not unanimous. "This means that there is no responsibility for the institution, complains a trade unionist, representing employees. Some victims do not necessarily want to go to court and are therefore less protected than a large part of the employees. "
In the Senate, on the contrary, the reception and listening unit can transmit the victim's file to the president of the institution. The latter can then ask his office to impose disciplinary sanctions, and, depending on the seriousness of the facts, seize the public prosecutor. No penalty has yet been imposed.
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"An evaluation of the device is underway by an external cabinet," said one in the Senate. In the European Parliament, an advisory committee not only has powers of inquiry, but it can also impose various sanctions, from the loss of compensation to the suspension of all parliamentary activity ...
"We favor common law, by bringing the matter before the courts, rather than small accommodations to settle internally matters of a penal nature," does one still justify the presidency of the Assembly. The Bureau of the Assembly started from the principle that judicial sanctions are sufficient. "
