The Senate examines from Tuesday June 28 in first reading, after the National Assembly, the bill strengthening "anti-terrorism" measures and intelligence. Announced in the wake of the attack against a police officer in Rambouillet (Yvelines) in April, this new bill in the anti-terrorism arsenal was planned for a long time and awaited with some impatience by the right in the Senate. For the government, it reconciles
"vigilance"
in the face of the threat and
"protection"
of freedoms, with in particular the concern to avoid censorship by the Constitutional Council.
"The whole is going in the right direction"
, approves the rapporteur of the Senate Marc-Philippe Daubresse (LR), pointing however
"Many articles not legally correct"
, which the senators worked to rewrite in committee.
Read also: Home visits, surveillance, data ... What the anti-terrorism bill contains
The text aims in particular to bring definitively into common law four emblematic but experimental measures of the law "internal security and the fight against terrorism" (Silt) of 2017. The Senate had already voted their perpetuation in October, but had not was followed by the National Assembly, the government then wishing to stick to a one-year extension. Unsurprisingly, the senators therefore approved the sustainability and the proposed adaptations, Marc-Philippe Daubresse however regretting a waste of time. Security perimeters, closure of places of worship, individual administrative control and surveillance measures (Micas) and home visits: these four administrative police measures followed on from state of emergency measures,implemented for two years after the bloody attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13, 2015.
"A little light"
The senators refused in committee the extension to two years of the duration of the Micas for people convicted of "terrorism" leaving prison, arguing a constitutional risk.
The rapporteur proposes instead
"an overall measure"
, which also makes it possible to strengthen another article of the text, creating a judicial measure of prevention of terrorist recidivism and reintegration, considered
"a little light"
by the rapporteur.
The senators replaced it in committee by
"a judicial measure aimed not only at social rehabilitation, but also at monitoring the individual"
.
It takes up a bill from the chairman of the Law Commission François-Noël Buffet (LR) already voted by the Senate at first reading a month ago.
Last July, the Parliament adopted a law
"establishing security measures against perpetrators of terrorist offenses at the end of their sentence"
, but it was rejected by the Constitutional Council.
Read also: The National Assembly votes in first reading a new anti-terrorism law
Another part of the bill concerns intelligence, with the aim of drawing conclusions from the technological and legal developments of the past five years. The senators accepted in committee to perpetuate the technique known as the algorithm which makes it possible to analyze Internet browsing data provided by telecom operators. Regarding its extension to connection URLs, the senators preferred to limit themselves to an experiment. The services will have a specific information retention regime to improve artificial intelligence tools. The project also proposes to liberalize access to certain archives for study and research purposes, without allaying the fears of historians, relayed in committee by Esther Benbassa (environmental group).
If it generally satisfies the right-wing majority, the text will encounter strong opposition from the left, in particular with two rejection motions which will be defended by the CRCE groups with a communist and environmentalist majority. Around 100 amendments have been tabled.
"It is an essential text for the activity of women and men who fight every day against the terrorist threat
,
"
said Minister Delegate for Citizenship Marlène Schiappa before the Senate Law Committee.
