Associate researcher at Iris, Jean-Yves Camus directs the Observatory of political radicalities of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation.
FIGAROVOX.-Gérald Darmanin has launched a dissolution procedure against identity generation.
Can this procedure be successful from a legal point of view?
Jean-Yves CAMUS.-
If the political will is there, it will
succeed
.
The intention to dissolve having been notified, the Minister seems decided.
Then, the decree in the Council of Ministers which will approve the dissolution can be challenged in litigation, before the Council of State.
It happened three times, in the 1970s, that it canceled the dissolution of extreme left organizations.
Since the 1980s, three dissolutions targeting far-right organizations have been overturned.
In the case of the neo-Nazis of
FANE
, after three attempts to dissolve, the group has definitely disappeared.
In the case of the association which managed the room where the
Third Way
movement met
, the fact that the dissolution was broken did not prevent the place in question from closing definitively.
Neither the dissolution of the French work in 2013, nor that of the Bastion Social prevented these groups from being reborn in other forms.
Conversely, neither the dissolution of the
French Work
in 2013, nor that of the
Social Bastion
in 2019 have prevented these groups from being reborn in other forms.
In the first case, there is even a judgment for "
reconstitution of dissolved league
", which is an offense.
Even those who have been convicted continue to campaign.
Is this weapon of dissolution effective in combating "radicalism" in France?
These decisions are taken by the political authority and aim to give the French the feeling that the government is acting in a firm way to maintain public order, but in fact, the effectiveness is sometimes relative.
Read also:
Dissolution of Generation Identity: the questions raised by this project of the Ministry of the Interior
Recent examples show different results as to the effectiveness of this type of measure on small groups classified to the extreme right.
Some movements are officially dissolved but their members continue to carry out actions.
Measures have been shown to be effective against certain groups, such as the case against the
revolutionary nationalist youths,
which is a small group that was dissolved in 2013 and has not resurfaced.
On the other hand, the attempt to eliminate the small group called
l'Oeuvre Française
was a failure. The organization was also dissolved in 2013 but today, its former members, including Yves Benedetti, its former president, continue to campaign and continue their activities under the name of
Jeune Nation.
The dangerousness of Generation Identity is obviously not comparable to that of radical Islamists, who remain by far the main security threat in France.
In your opinion, is this procedure legitimate in view of the actions of the identity generation? Does this organization constitute a threat to the Republic?
There are seven criteria for dissolution, the sixth of which relates to encouraging “
discrimination or racism
”.
It is the only one that can be retained, if we consider that deploying a banner whose slogan is "
Money for the French, not for foreigners
" is a call to discrimination.
The dangerousness of Generation Identity is obviously not comparable to that of radical Islamists, who remain by far the main security threat in France.
To read also:
Renée Fregosi: "The bill against separatism will miss its target"
Wanting to ban all small groups considered to be radical not going against freedom of expression?
Freedom of expression is not absolute.
But there are laws punishing racism, anti-Semitism and negationism and they exist to deal with the words of those who break the law on a case-by-case basis, without using the lethal weapon of dissolution.
We must also learn to live with a part of radicalism in democracy.
Except, of course, when national security is endangered by terrorist activities.
However, in my opinion, Generation Identity is not a terrorist group.
The Minister of the Interior is based on the notion of "
militia"
or
"armed group
" to pronounce the dissolution but it seems complicated to retain this qualification with regard for example, to their action carried out at the Col de l'Échelle in the alps in 2018.
