The Senate, dominated by the right-wing opposition, will hear ministers Gérald Darmanin and Amélie Oudéa-Castera on Wednesday on the incidents that occurred on Saturday near the Stade de France during the Champions League final.
The Ministers of the Interior and Sports will be heard jointly by the Law and Culture Committees, the Senate announced in a press release on Monday.
The hearing will take place on Wednesday at 4.30 p.m., said the president of the Culture Committee Laurent Lafon (centrist) in a tweet. It will be open to the press and broadcast on the Senate website.
For Mr. Lafon and the President of the Law Commission François-Noël Buffet (LR), “it is important to ensure that all the lessons of this evening are learned quickly to reassure the world about France’s ability to welcome great events”.
Fifteen months from the organization of the Rugby World Cup and less than two years from the holding of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, Saturday’s incidents “gave a sad image of France in the eyes of the world and arouse serious concerns about its ability to organize international competitions in optimal security conditions”, note the commissions.
They want to “understand the circumstances that led to this situation” and “determine the responsibilities of the various national and international actors concerned”.
On Sunday, Senator LR Michel Savin, president of the study group devoted to major sporting events, had indicated that he was going to ask “the opening of a parliamentary commission of inquiry”.
“At this stage”, the Senate will start by hearing the ministers and will “adjust” its decisions according to the answers given, Mr. Buffet told AFP. “If the information does not seem sufficient to us, we will consider going further,” he added.
“Obviously the official version of the chaos at the Stade de France given by the government is out of step with the facts. As if it were necessary to hide the responsibility of the usual scum. The Senate will have to participate in the demonstration of the truth by an independent control ”, had reacted on Sunday on Twitter the leader of the senators LR Bruno Retailleau.
For its part, the majority Communist CRCE group announced in a press release on Monday the forthcoming tabling of a motion for a resolution “aiming at pacifying the maintenance of order in France and at drawing lessons from the escalation of violence and the ‘disproportionate use of force by the authorities’.
