A Polish MEP belonging to the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party requested a debate in the European Parliament on what he labelled a “crisis” of democracy in France following the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) protests.
MEP Ryszard Czarnecki submitted the proposal this week saying that there was a “crisis of democracy in France” and that the subject was important to discuss in the parliament as France is one of the European Union’s largest member states, Polish broadcaster TVP Info reports.
“We are very concerned about the situation in this country. During the last four weekends, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have appeared on the streets of French cities. Over 2 thousand were arrested, nearly 900 people were injured,” Czarnecki added.
Czarnecki pointed out that another parliamentary faction had made a similar request regarding the Czech Republic saying, “As the European Parliament dealt with the situation in Romania earlier, the situation in Hungary, the situation in Poland, so should we talk about the situation in France, because it is important from the point of view of the interests of the entire European Union.”
Czarnecki noted that if the body did not debate the situation in France it could be seen as hypocritical and only concerned with debating issues in Central and Eastern European member states.
EU Parliament president Antonio Tajani put the vote to members by a raising of hands and determined the proposition for a debate had been rejected.
The move comes after the EU parliament has moved against Hungary and enacting article 7 over accusations of targetting mass migration NGOs, controlling Hungarian media, and removing certain judges. Poland faced similar threats when the country attempted sweeping judicial reforms last year.
The call for a debate is also a clear swipe at globalist French President Emmanuel Macron whose policies have been the subject of four straight weeks of often violent protests by members of the Yellow Vest movement which has spread across the country and most recently into neighbouring countries like the Netherlands and the heart of the EU in Belgium.