The Republicans debate on LCI: candidates not always rigorous with the facts – LCI

During major political meetings organized on LCI’s branch, the TF1 group’s Auditors unit is regularly called upon to directly verify the statements of the managers invited. This will be the case again on November 8, on the occasion of the first debate between the Republican candidates for the presidential election. A fact-checking system similar to that organized with environmentalists, in order to see more clearly in the proposals and statements of the guests on the set.

Before the big evening on Monday, find now a series of checks carried out by our team. From Xavier Bertrand to Eric Ciotti, via Valérie Pécresse, we observe that all the candidates have already been pinned for approximations or misleading statements. Judge for yourselves.

On questions relating to justice, the right and the Republicans regularly show firmness. This is the case of Xavier Bertrand, who speaks regularly on these subjects and does not fail to deplore that French justice is too lax. In particular, according to him, a lack of places in prison, with a “numerus clausus which does not say its name”. According to the presidential candidate, the judges would indeed be forced to decide on certain sentences “according to the available prison places”.

Problem: Ministry of Justice figures actually paint a picture of the situation to the exact opposite of what the elected LR affirms. Convictions are increasing both in number and severity. With the Auditors, the ministry indicated that the convictions increased “very significantly” for ten years. According to the figures available, they have gone from 48,594 on January 1, 2002 to 65,126 today. This figure had even risen to 71,377 before the health crisis, we are told. Ditto in terms of severity.

Convinced of the need to transform our retirement system, Valérie Pécresse is very critical of the government, which has failed to implement its reform during the five-year term. Blame it on the Covid crisis, argue the representatives of the majority, a position that the candidate formally contests. Invited by LCI a few weeks ago, she explained that it is actually under pressure from the streets that the government has backed down. Faced with the massive strikes of December 2019.

If this large-scale social movement led Edouard Philippe to adapt his reform, it is wrong to say that it was subsequently “abandoned in the open countryside before the Covid crisis”. LCI has traced the course of this controversial text, reflecting developments without however any abandonment whatsoever being considered. The postponement of the reform, moreover, was endorsed by Emmanuel Macron during his speech on March 16, 2020, announcing the establishment of the first confinement.

Very mobilized on issues relating to security or secularism, Eric Ciotti has regularly taken Seine-Saint-Denis as an example in recent years. Like Eric Zemmour who made a similar speech, he notably suggested that in this department, we no longer meet Jewish children in schools. “We know why. Because they are driven out today by the rise of Islamist communitarianism. I say it”, he said. And to evoke “reports” mentioning the desertion of schoolchildren of the Jewish faith.

When we seek to verify these statements, a major problem arises: the glaring lack of factual elements to attest it. The only official reports that would mention a “anti-Jewish racism” in schools do not point the finger at the Ile-de-France department at any time. Specialists report the departure of Jewish families to other territories, without explaining that this community has today packed up and disappeared from “9-3”. Likewise, if acts of an anti-Semitic nature have been deplored in the department, it is unfortunately not the only one in France where it occurs.

According to Philippe Juvin, the unemployment figures would be “trompe l’oeil”. The head of the emergency department of the Pompidou hospital, in Paris, particularly deplored that “long-term unemployment is not going down”. A misleading statement since if we look at the latest figures available, provided by Pôle emploi, we see the opposite. In the third quarter, this category, which represents people looking for work for more than a year, experienced a drop of 3.4%! In watching over the year as a whole, INSEE, for its part, highlights a situation “almost stable”, with a decrease of 0.1%.

For the rest of job seekers, if “it’s better” in the country according to Philippe Juvin, France is still lagging behind. We would be like this “the 23ᵉ on 28” European Union countries (including the United Kingdom). In reality, the ranking is not exactly that given by the candidate for the Élysée, although it is quite close. Still considering the second quarter of 2021 and the data consolidated by INSEE, France ranks 22nd, ex aequo with Finland, behind countries like Greece and Spain, but also Sweden.

Too restrictive, European law? Many elected officials think so, and deplore the laws and standards imposed by Brussels. However, Michel Barnier recently argued that the 1958 Constitution takes precedence over European law. Defender of a “legal sovereignty” on immigration, he ensured that EU standards were given a “primacy” on French laws “but not on our Constitution”.

Experts in law, requested by AFP, show themselves much less categorical. “To say that the Constitution takes precedence over European law is a question of point of view”, thus indicated Edouard Dubout, professor at the University of Paris 2 Panthéon – Assas. Moreover, from “point of view” European Union, the issue would be quickly resolved: contrary to what Michel Barnier asserts, EU law would prevail over all the standards of the Member States, “whatever they are”. This notably includes constitutional standards.

Do you want to ask us questions or provide us with information that you think is unreliable? Do not hesitate to write to us at [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter: our team is there behind the account @ verif_TF1LCI.