Ferrand is not a judge, but the former chief of the French National Assembly and one of the first supporters of Macron.
Like Ferrand, the outgoing president of the Constitutional Council, Laurent Fabius, and his predecessor Jean-Louis Debré, had previously chaired the National Assembly. Fabius and Debré were both politically aligned with the presidents who also appointed them. But Debré was appointed by former president Jacques Chirac when he was only a few weeks old to leave his duties and therefore should not benefit from the new role of Debré. Fabius, on the other hand, had not been historically close to the president who appointed him, François Hollande.
Constitutional experts like Morel believe that Ferrand’s ties with the president are much more worrying than those who had work before him, and they underlined a legal principle according to whether the institutions, in particular the courts, must not only be impartial but also appear impartial to public.
Writing in Le Figaro, the former secretary general of the Council, Jean-Iric Schoettl, said that his leader “should be beyond any suspicion of partisanary, favoritism or personal ties”.
Macron’s political opponents seized the controversy. The member of the European Parliament, Marion Maréchal, the niece of Le Pen and an ally of National Rally, said in an interview on the appointment of RTL Ferrand was an attempt to hinder Le Pen’s ability to direct reforms if it is elected President.
The Democratic and Republican Group of the National Assembly – made up of communist legislators and representatives of the French territories outside of Europe – declared that it reintroduces a bill to demand that all the members of the constitutional constitution be Having legal experience and skills and not having been in government or parliament during the decade preceding their appointment.
Politices
