This Tuesday opens the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the management of the health crisis. An initiative of the National Assembly to try to understand the shortcomings at the start of the crisis. Added to this is the study of complaints, in particular against administrations and members of the government.
As the health crisis recedes in France, the time for reckoning becomes clearer. This Tuesday opens in the National Assembly a first commission of inquiry. Under the aegis of the president of the Social Affairs Commission, Brigitte Bourguignon (LREM), their goal is to “establish the genealogy and chronology of this crisis“. Éric Ciotti (LR, member of the opposition), rapporteur for the commission of inquiry, intends to take a particular interest in “mask inventory management“, to the strategy “in terms of testing“as well as the”care for nursing home residents” – where more than a third of Covid-19 deaths have taken place.
A parliamentary work that benefits from extensive powers. Summonses are compulsory under penalty of criminal sanctions, hearings take place under oath and its members can carry out checks on documents and organize trips, for example to a hospital or nursing home hard hit by the epidemic. A second parliamentary commission of inquiry – this time led by the Senate – is due to begin at the end of the month.
Members’ questions
From today, the Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon, must be the first to be heard by the 32 deputies of this commission of inquiry. Tomorrow, they will hear from the former boss of Public Health France, François Bourdillon, then Geneviève Chêne, who succeeded him in November at the head of this agency in charge of health monitoring, prevention and health education. , and the response to health emergencies. Thursday will take place the hearing of Jean-François Delfraissy, the president of the scientific council whose opinions prompted the government to decree confinement and then guided its gradual end. Two former directors general of health will follow. Then, according to parliamentary sources, will come the turn of scientists, including the controversial Marseille professor Didier Raoult, and politicians, after the second round of municipal elections, with Agnès Buzyn, ex-Minister of Health, and several of her predecessors assures the AFP.
At the heart of these debates, the “dysfunctions” of the management of the health crisis. The parliamentarians intend to look into the status and role of Public Health France, created in 2016. It absorbed the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Establishment (Eprus), affecting, according to some, the ability to anticipate a crisis such as the coronavirus. Responsibilities questioned who will also look at the local level. “The drama of nursing homes will necessarily raise, for example, the question of the relevance of departmental councils and regional health agencies“, points out LREM deputy Florent Bachelier in a column published by Ouest France. A way also for the majority and the opposition to challenge each other’s policies. Éric Ciotti, rapporteur for the commission of inquiry, intends to denounce “the delay in the implementation of virological tests” reports 20 minutes and asks: “if we had been better prepared, would containment have been necessary?“
However, some MPs have few illusions about exchanges with ministers. Some fear that they will want to reserve their answers for the courts.
Judicial Front
Because parallel to this political turmoil, these same protagonists will a priori also be summoned before examining magistrates. The Paris public prosecutor’s office as well as the Court of Justice of the Republic – responsible exclusively for judging ministers in the exercise of their function – have been seized of around sixty complaints for one and 84 for the other. Main grievances:endangering the life of others“, “manslaughter“, “no assistance to the person in danger” or failure to take timely measures to stem the epidemic, voluntary failure to fight a dangerous disaster or even homicides and involuntary injuries. These complaints come mainly from individuals, associations and unions.
At the beginning of June, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a vast preliminary investigation into the management of the crisis to deal with around sixty complaints against ‘X’ or against administrative officials such as the director general of health Jérôme Salomon, the administration penitentiary or the Ministry of Labour. The Central Office for the Fight against Damage to the Environment and Public Health (Oclaesp) is being asked to investigate, in particular, protection at work, the provision of masks and tests, etc. François Molins pleads for having more “means” in the face of the scale of the investigations to be carried out. “It will be necessary to ensure that this procedure is carried out as quickly and as efficiently as possible.“he insists at the microphone of RTL this morning. However, this national survey does not concern accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad), which are currently the subject of local surveys, including two in Paris, but also in Nanterre or Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes) reports Le Monde.
With regard to the responsibility of ministers, the Petitions Commission of the Court of Justice of the Republic must soon judge the admissibility of the 84 complaints filed. “At the end of its examination, probably at the end of June, either it will consider that these complaints are not admissible and it will classify them and its decision will be final, or it will consider that they are admissible and it will send them to me“explained François Molins. The complaints most often target Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, as well as the two Ministers of Health, Agnès Buzyn and Olivier Véran. The Head of State, Emmanuel Macron, is protected by the Constitution. His acts in the course of his presidential function are considered criminally irresponsible.
.
