Dhe left-wing party alliance Nupes in France has been in turmoil since MP Adrien Quatennens admitted to hitting his wife. “In the midst of extreme tension and mutual aggression, I slapped her in the face,” Quatennens confessed. He was responding to a report in the weekly Le Canard Enchainé that Celine Quatennens had filed a domestic violence complaint. The judiciary has now initiated investigations. The 32-year-old Quatennens was set up as a successor by the 71-year-old leader of the La France insoumise party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The outrage at the slap is so great that he has temporarily suspended his duties as the left-wing alliance’s coordinator in parliament. But he refuses to give up his seat in parliament.
Mentor Mélenchon defended Quatennens, praising his “dignity and courage”. “Police malice, media voyeurism and social media have all intervened in the contentious divorce of Adrien and Celine Quatennens. Adrien decides to take it all on himself. I applaud his dignity and courage. I express my trust and affection for him,” Mélenchon wrote on Twitter. He did not mention the victim of the violence. The presidential candidate had received almost 22 percent of the votes in the spring with the promise “another world is possible” and attracted many young voters.
Prime Minister: “Extremely shocking”
But now not only feminists complain that Mélenchon stands for a world of male solidarity in which violence against women is trivialized. “It’s unbelievable that in one tweet he writes so much praise about someone who has just admitted violence,” said the Rassemblement National faction leader, Marine Le Pen. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she found it “extremely shocking”. how Mélenchon trivialized domestic violence. The excitement is also so great because Mélenchon’s party has always championed women’s rights.
The Quatennens case is the third scandal in a row. Most recently, the chairman of the Budget Committee, 63-year-old Eric Coquerel (LFI), had to justify alleged immoral assaults on women. Left-wing activist Sophie Tissier accused Coquerel of sexual harassment. The judiciary investigates while Coquerel claims it was just flirting. He will continue to serve as head of the budget committee.
The Green Party of the Left Alliance is also shaken by a scandal. 42-year-old MP Julien Bayou has resigned from the group’s co-chairmanship in the National Assembly. The decision was made after a parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Green MP Sandrine Rousseau accused Bayou of “behaving in a manner likely to upset women’s mental balance”. Bayou’s former partner confided in her. Rousseau said Bayou harassed the woman into attempting suicide. She is not the only victim of the green politician, who made a significant contribution to forging the left-wing alliance.
There is dissatisfaction among the Green MPs about Rousseau’s communication strategy. Rousseau sees herself as a radical eco-feminist and, after their divorce in 2017, lamented “sexist attacks” by her former husband. Rousseau was also at the forefront when Home Secretary Gérald Darmanin was investigated on suspicion of rape. The French judiciary recently dropped the investigation. In 2017, a woman filed a complaint against Darmanin. She accused him of forcing her to have sex in 2009 in exchange for legal assistance. Darmanin had always denied the accusation. The judiciary closed the investigation in 2018, but later it was reopened.