The office of the National Assembly, France’s highest collegial body, rejected the request to transform a France-Palestine International Study Group “Groupe d’études à vocation internationale France–Palestine” (GEVI) into a “friendship group,” ruling that the criteria for its creation had not been met, much to the dismay of the Left and its MoDem chairman Richard Ramos.
The proposal was defeated with 11 “no” votes to 8 “yes” votes.
The Socialist Party (PS) faction in the legislature voiced displeasure with the outcome.
Some left-wing members saw the France-Palestine Friendship Group as a step toward France’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
The Assembly already houses an “international study group” (GEVI) on Palestine, chaired by MoDem (Democrat Movement) MP Richard Ramos, which brings together MPs from several benches.
Ramos was looking to morph it into a “friendship group”, as such an entity exists for most states, including Israel.
These structures can carry out diplomatic and cultural activities–most notably with foreign parliaments and with individual members of legislative bodies–such as traveling or inviting foreign lawmakers and residents to France.
The left voted overwhelmingly in favor of the proposal. According to legislative sources, the right and extreme right were opposed, unsurprisingly, as were the majority of the President’s elected supporters.
The President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, voted against the proposal, alleging that the criteria for upgrading to “friendship group” nomenclature had not been met; specifically, the existence of a parliament in the state, recognition of the state by the UN, and diplomatic relations with France were all absent.
The Palestinian Authority fields a representative in France; however, “…there have been no legislative elections for over 17 years (2006, editor’s note), and Palestine is not recognized by the UN,” argues a parliamentary source.
Another argument put forth by some of the measure’s opponents is that GEVIs already enable diplomatic initiatives to be conducted similar to those put forth by friendship groups.
However, Ramos argues that a France-Palestine friendship group should “work together” with the France-Israel group; for example, to organize trips to Jerusalem.
He also regretted that two MoDem deputies had voted against the Friendship Group on this close vote, even though he indicated that his political group had voted “80% in favor” of setting up a Friendship Group yesterday on a preliminary basis.
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, commented, “By the decision of its bureau, the Assembly has not only refused to commit itself, even by a symbolic decision, in a salutary direction, but it has also marked time behind a government which (…) did not hesitate to vote in the United Nations Security Council in favor of recognizing the Palestinian state.”