⬅️The Weekly Dispatch - To the left
⬅️The Weekly Dispatch - To the left
12 February 2023 - How you can support Turkey and Syria, Zelenskyy in Paris, Quatennens continues to divide, Hanouna's attsck on Boyard costs C8, and Thomas Portes was excluded for targeting minister
The Weekly Dispatch is your weekly update on major events in French and European politics, published on Sundays to give you the ideal summary of current affairs.
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This Week
🇹🇷🇸🇾How you can support Turkey and Syria
🇺🇦Zelenskyy in Paris
😢Adrien Quatennens continues to divide
💸Hanouna’s TPMP attack on Boyard costs C8
🔗Thomas Portes excluded for targeting minister
🇹🇷🇸🇾How you can support Turkey and Syria
With the disastrous earthquake in Turkey and Syria that has cost countless lives, there’s a genuine need for support and aid in the region.
This is why
has put together a list of trustworthy organisations that are currently fundraising to support those in the region, which you can find below:
🇺🇦Zelenskyy in Paris
This week saw a “surprise” visit across Europe, or what would have been a surprise visit if the EPP hadn’t blown it for us all, where he tried to rally support for the Ukrainian war effort and to get his soldiers what they need to defeat the Russian menace.
Starting off in Britain, Zelenskyy met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and visiting the British parliament, the next stage seemed obvious: a visit to Paris to meet at least one of the leaders of the Franco-German engine.
Plans had been in the works for weeks, with Paris and Kyiv trying to figure out how to arrange a visit. One idea floated by President Emmanuel Macron wanting him to come to Paris for “a diplomatic initiative” on the anniversary of the Russian invasion.
However, this never materialised due to fears of a Russian offensive on the same date, and as Zelenskyy and his advisers prefer to be in Ukraine should this happen. Other plans were also floated, but never led to any concrete plan.
Having apparently had initial plans to go to the theatre with his wife on Wednesday, the plans quickly changed, with it becoming possible for Zelenskyy to fit a dinner in Paris right after his visit to London, and before his trip to Brussels.
Upon arrival, there was a short discussion on the front steps of the Élysée, with Emmanuel Macron being clear that the “crime of aggression cannot be tolerated, even less by a power such as Russia” and that “Russia cannot, and must not, win.”
Zelenskyy for his part was clear on what he needed from the two states:
“France and Germany can be game changers and that's how I see our discussions today. The sooner we have long-range weapons and modern aircraft … the sooner Russia's aggression will come to an end”
This led to the working dinner at the Élysée, joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, where discussions on providing equipment and financial support to Ukraine were broached, as well as the topic of increased tank deliveries and even jets.
But as Emmanuel Macron said to journalists after the EU Council meeting, he’s not going to share this information immediately with everyone to imperil western efforts to support our ally and to give Russia a warning.
For a full breakdown of the European trip, keep your eyes out for a dispatch this week, and make sure you’re subscribed!
😢Adrien Quatennens continues to divide
I’m sure you all remember a regular visitor to The French Dispatch, Adrien Quatennens (LFI), who was recently convicted of domestic violence towards his ex-partner and recently made a return to the Assemblée National and caused some drama.
The first drama was, obviously, his return to the Assemblée, with many decrying the appearance of a man who was considered unsuitable for his position. Militants within La France Insoumise, the NUPES alliance, and the other parties made this very clear.
The next piece of drama was when Quatennens decided to make a statement during the already febrile debates around Pension reform. His first intervention since his return in January, he was booed by other deputies.
However, several of his allies from his party such as Sophia Chikirou, Nathalie Oziol, and Sébastien Delogu, all close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, stood by his side as he did this and applauded him. The situation
This immediately launched a conflict between the feminists within La France Insoumise and Jean-Luc Mélenchon supporters and raised some dissent.
François Ruffin (LFI), for example, said that it was “not the right time” for Quatennens to have returned and that it was “likely to divide, at a time when we all need to be united to go and support a movement on pensions.”
Manon Aubry (LFI) appeared on Europe 1 to say similar, and that her colleagues’ “applause blurs the message” while “[contradicting] the exclusion which was decided by the group.” “This does not help our political family in the midst of a battle against pension reform”, she added, conscious of the damage this was causing.
Sandrine Rousseau (EELV) was scathing of her criticisms. calling it a “façade of exclusion” that was intended to protect an internal member of the party who is close to Mélenchon.
Naturally, as he has made a habit of doing, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI) came to his protégés defence on Thursday, saying that people should “leave him alone” as “he has been punished enough”, hinting at hide fatigue regarding the need to defend Quatennens.
He also accused journalists on BFM TV of having a “sadistic enjoyment” in their coverage of the story and of “taking an unhealthy pleasure in seeing a young deputy suffer”.
"He was sentenced, the judge could have declared him ineligible, he did not, so Adrien Quatennens resumes his work as a deputy after having lived through a horrible moment, six months of bashing"
After a period of time, Mélenchon stormed off the stage after having acheived what he wanted to achieve.
However, there’s a problem with the situation that Mélenchon seems to have not quite grasped: the ongoing defence of a man convicted of domestic violence does not fit in any way with the ideology and beliefs of the left.
Having taken over the left with his Presidential election masterstroke and having forced the Parti Socialist to subjugate itself to his political power, he was already in a strong position to push towards some unification that would have made him leader.
He could have created a left-wing party, leaning to the far-left, that could have been a genuine challenger to the Presidential majority and the far-right bloc, managed a strong score in 2024, and used this as a springboard
💸Hanouna’s TPMP attack on Boyard costs C8
Turns out having a fancy TV show and poor manners isn’t enough to save your network from taking a hammering.
Cyril Hanouna is a presenter who has a particularly distasteful reputation for the way he runs his popular network of shows, all focused around the headline ‘Touche pas à mon poste’ (TPMP, or Don’t touch my TV).
Known as a more polemical, populist style of talk show, it has amassed a huge following and has seen a lot of success. However, it has also been known for several controversies.
Most notably, it was suspended from all advertising due to having disregarded its obligation not to disseminate images likely to humiliate others, where the host attempted to get a female panellist to touch his penis.
Another controversy was a distasteful homophobic hoax that had relied on stereotyping homosexuals while potentially encouraging homophobia.
Most recently, Cyril Hanouna had invited the now-deputy and former TPMP columnist, Louis Boyard [LFI] onto TPMP, repeatedly insulting him by calling him a “jester” and telling him to “shut [his] mouth]”, which led to Boyard leaving the set.
After a complain by the deputy, the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (ARCOM, or Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication), fined the channel C8 €3.5 million for their troubles.
As the heaviest fine ever imposed on a television operator, the Canal+ group has its work cut out for it, and they may start looking at their problem child Hanouna as being more trouble than he’s worth.
🔗Thomas Portes excluded for targeting minister
To cap off a dispatch that has definitely leaned left, there was yet another major drama that broke out due to the behaviour of a deputy who has forgotten that there are standards to be upheld in public life.
Attending a protest during the week, Thomas Portes (LFI), decided that he would post with his foot standing on the head of Olivier Dussopt (Renaissance), the French minister of labour, employment and integration, which had been glued to a football.
With the protests having regularly displayed a dislike for government officials and those supporting pension reform, and the increasingly profound schism in French politics, this very clearly raised the concerns of all who remember the Gillets Jaunes
With an outcry regarding this behaviour in the Assemblée, Portes attempted to defend an amendment in the hemicycle before being booed for his behaviour. He quickly shot back with a “Calm down colleagues, there is no ball here”.
With demands that he apologises, Mathild Panot (LFI) asked for the session to be suspended. However, when it resumed, the leader of her parliamentary group, Aurore Bergé (Renaissance), demanded an apology and said that “[Renaissance] will never let anything pass”.
Portes quickly attempted to defend his amendment once again before being drowned out and rebuffing all calls to remove his tweet: “I will withdraw my tweet the day you withdraw your reform which will sacrifice thousands of people.”
For very obvious reasons, this did not fly very far, and the office of the institution met and heard Portes’ justifications for his behaviour before giving their ultimate decision.
He would receive the heaviest punishment possible: an exclusion of fifteen days of meetings (until mid-March) and the deprivation of half of his parliamentary allowance for two months.
Aside from within the NUPES coalition, the majority of deputies supported this move, most notably Eric Ciotti, who continues to attempt to position himself and his party as a party of government, and as the real alternative to the Presidential Majority.
“ I welcome the decision of the office of the National Assembly to pronounce the 15-day exclusion of the Insoumis deputy Thomas Portes because of a shameful tweet and his unacceptable behaviour.
The NUPES continues its business of desacralization of our institutions!”
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