Post-riot reconstructions: express validation of a bill in Parliament

After a unanimous vote on Tuesday in the Senate dominated by the right, this text was approved without change at the Palais Bourbon by 260 votes for, 87 against, and 59 abstentions, which is worth final validation, in record time under this legislature.

According to the Minister of Territorial Cohesion Christophe Béchu, the bill makes it possible to "respond in a concrete and limited way not to the causes, but to the consequences of the riots" which followed the death of young Nahel, killed by the shooting of a police officer during a road check in Nanterre on June 27.

The deputies of the National Rally were the only ones to vote against, criticizing that "the scum destroys and the French pay".

The elected officials of La France insoumise abstained, deploring the absence of an "immaterial response" to the rioters, in the words of Raquel Garrido. The Minister postponed this substantive subject to the next school year.

Town halls, schools, police stations: from Mons-en-Baroeul, in the North, to Lormont, near Bordeaux, via Brie-Comte-Robert or Garges-Lès-Gonesse, in the Paris region, more than 750 public buildings have been achieved, according to the government, to a greater or lesser extent.

"I do not forget the 1.000 businesses vandalized and looted," added Mr. Béchu, stressing that the figures "exceed the sad toll of the riots of 2005". The total cost will not be known before the end of September.

"We are at the side of those who must rebuild," he argued. But the exchanges at the Palais Bourbon got worse.

The left-wing deputies tirelessly defended dozens of amendments to further reduce the time for reconstruction, to avoid having to empower the government to legislate by ordinances, or to mention in the text of the law "intentional homicide" of Nahel, according to the wish of the rebellious.

They have drawn the wrath of the presidential camp. "Do not come and act as firefighters after having acted as arsonists and accomplices of arsonists", Mr. Béchu told them, referring to LFI's refusal to explicitly call for appeasement during the violence.

"The Checkbook"

On the far right, Marine Le Pen accused the rebels of coming "to vomit (their) hatred of the police" and to use "any pretext to justify the riots".

The leader of the RN group did not spare the presidential majority: "you are constantly trying to make what happened invisible", she criticized, after presenting a battery of measures on Wednesday for "a republican start".

Main grievance of the RN group on the bill: State and communities will finance the reconstructions, which should be "exclusively borne by the thugs and their families".

For elected LRs too, "it's not up to the French to pay the bill". But the right-wing group voted for the executive's text, asking for justice to pass.

Although also in support, the ecologists warned, through the voice of Sabrina Sebaihi: "You cannot find the only answers the truncheon for the neighborhoods and the checkbook for the damage".

Soon, "we are going to have to ask you again to account for your policy", also reprimanded the communist Hubert Wulfranc.

In detail, the bill includes three articles authorizing the government to act by order to accelerate the reconstruction of public or private buildings, degraded or destroyed.

The first provides for adaptations of the town planning code, for identical reconstructions or with improvements, for example environmental.

Preparatory work such as earthworks can be undertaken without waiting for planning permission.

Article 2 concerns the public order: there will be a competition but no prior advertising under a threshold which would be 1,5 million euros, according to Mr. Béchu.

The last article adapts the framework applicable to subsidies paid to local authorities. It opens the possibility of a zero charge for communities and will allow them to recover VAT within the year, without waiting for the current two years.