Support for victims of domestic violence was unanimous. Not a path was missed in the National Assembly, Monday, January 16, for the adoption of a bill providing for the creation of this universal emergency financial assistance, the objective of which is to allow victims to get to safety as quickly as possible. The amount, modulated according to needs, must be specified by decree.
The deputies took up and modified a proposal by the centrist senator Valérie Létard, also voted unanimously in October in the Senate at first reading. Deputies and senators should agree without difficulty on a final text for final adoption in the coming weeks, then promulgation within a maximum of nine months. With this help, “the first start” of the hearth should no longer be “a false start”, underlined Minister Isabelle Rome, in charge of gender equality. Currently, victims under “Empowered or financially dependent sometimes have no choice but to go back to square one, behind closed doors with their attackers”she lamented.
The deputies approved a government amendment which proposes to pay this aid in the form of a donation and not just an interest-free loan, as the Senate had voted. This financial support will be conditional on a protection order, the filing of a complaint or a report addressed to the public prosecutor.
Gift or loan at the expense of the perpetrator of the violence
At least part of it must be paid within three days. When aid is granted in the form of a loan, its reimbursement will be the responsibility of the person found guilty of violence, where applicable, with an additional penalty. “reimbursement obligation”.
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Against the advice of the government, the Assembly adopted an amendment by the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau to create a multi-annual law on funding for the fight against violence against women. His fate is however uncertain during the continuation of the parliamentary shuttle.
The deputies of the National Rally (RN) had initially tried to resume the text, inspired by an experiment in the North department, in their parliamentary niche, a day intended for their texts on January 12, but the conference of presidents of the Assembly has decided to include this transpartisan subject during a “Assembly Week”, which began on Monday. The RN did not oppose it. An RN deputy, Emmanuel Taché de la Pagerie was co-rapporteur, with the elected representative of the independent group LIOT Béatrice Descamps. The Ministry of the Interior identified 207,743 victims of domestic violence in France in 2021, mainly women. One hundred and twenty-two were killed by their spouse or ex-spouse that same year, according to the ministry.