The environmentalist deputy Julien Bayou, in withdrawal since a complaint from his ex-partner who accused him of "psychological violence", was not suspended by his group in the Assembly, parliamentary sources confirmed on Wednesday the day after an internal vote.
According to the internal regulations, a qualified majority of 60% of the group's workforce was necessary to officially suspend the Paris deputy.
It was not reached during the ballot, according to a source, who confirms information from BFMTV and the Les Jours site.
“He remains in the background, but is not suspended”, we specify within the group of 22 deputies.
A withdrawal means that Julien Bayou cannot speak on behalf of his group in the chamber or in the media, nor co-sign the amendments.
The Young Ecologists deplored this decision on
We learn that Julien Bayou will not be excluded from the environmentalist group in the Assembly.
Due to the lack of a sufficient number of votes in favor of the sanction, it was not adopted.
We deplore this result which does not live up to our commitments to the fight against… https://t.co/fjA6ShRnDB
— Young Ecologists (@Jeunes_Ecolos) March 27, 2024
The 43-year-old MP announced on March 7 that he was withdrawing from his group and his party, after a complaint filed by his ex-partner for moral harassment and abuse of weakness.
Anaïs Leleux, who accuses the ecologist of “psychological violence”, said she wanted to make this affair “the feminist trial of the century”.
Withdrawal for six months
In September 2022, Julien Bayou, then boss of the environmentalist party and co-president of the group in the Assembly, had already withdrawn and had to leave his functions, after first revelations from his ex-partner in an email sent in July 2022 to the EELV internal unit on gender-based and sexual violence.
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The cell took action to investigate, and in September MP Sandrine Rousseau, known for her feminist fight, ignited the fire by publicly relaying the accusations, denouncing “behavior likely to undermine the moral health of women”.
But six months later, the environmental group recorded the end of the MP's withdrawal, after the closure of the internal investigation, due to not being able to hear the complainant.
Julien Bayou then considered himself “cleared” and “exonerated”.
At the time, no complaint had been filed nor any judicial investigation opened.