Worried as the end of the winter holidays approaches on Friday, the left has come to the fore in the National Assembly, where a presidential majority bill against squats was considered for second reading on Wednesday.
At the call of the associations that fight against precarious housing, a few dozen people gathered around the Palais Bourbon to request in parallel the withdrawal of the text that will be the subject of a solemn vote next Tuesday.
The bill, supported by the Renacimiento and Horizontes groups and supported by the right and the RN, provides for tripling the penalties incurred by squatters, up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
The left calls for “trusting the judge” on the issue
Left legislators have tried in vain to reconsider an addition from the senators at first reading: by virtue of this article, the judge will no longer be able to grant deadlines to squatters whose expulsion has been judicially ordered.
“We must trust the judge”, insisted the patron saint of green deputies, Cyrielle Chatelain, to the speech of the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, present.
The communist-elect of Seine-Saint-Denis Stéphane Peu was outraged, stressing that “these deadlines were granted in particular in situations with young children.” But “115 (emergency number for the homeless) is saturated” and “the enforceable right to housing does not work,” he said.
The new article “stigmatizes the most precarious at the end of the winter holidays”, added Martine Etienne (LFI). During this truce, from November 1 to March 31, the eviction of tenants is postponed – but the truce does not apply to squatters.
A “risk of increasing the number of homeless people”
The bill also speeds up legal proceedings in case of unpaid rent. According to the socialist Iñaki Echaniz, who unsuccessfully defended a previous rejection motion, the text “runs the risk of increasing the number of homeless people.”
Its author, Guillaume Kasbarian (Renaissance), claims to be addressing an “important problem that outrages our fellow citizens”, that of illegal occupation.
Eric Dupond-Moretti welcomed the parliamentary work carried out, which according to him allows “a balance between the defense of real estate property and the right to housing”. Briefly on the government bench, the Minister for Housing, Olivier Klein, assured that he was not opposed to the sanctioning measures and “to an ambitious housing policy”.
At night, the deputies validated the sustainability of the temporary authorization device for vacant premises for social purposes. An LFI reform has been adopted for the State to carry out controls in the case of private companies. Mr. Klein mentioned a future “letter” on the subject.
Source: BFM TV
