Édouard Philippe opposes the revision of the Constitution proposed by Bruno Retailleau

Édouard Philippe said on Tuesday that he was opposed to revising the Constitution to broaden the scope of the referendum to subjects such as immigration or calling into question the decisions of the Constitutional Council, as proposed by LR candidate Bruno Retailleau.

“If I am like him (Bruno Retailleau), quite comfortable with the idea of ​​using the referendum, I am less sensitive than him to the idea of ​​changing the scope of application of article 11” of the Constitution which lists the subjects that can be submitted to a referendum, declared the candidate Horizons on Franceinfo. The subject of immigration, “I am not sure that it is within the scope of Article 11,” he stressed.

According to the Constitution, article 11 allows referendums “on the organization of public powers, on reforms relating to the economic, social or environmental policy of the nation”. Bruno Retailleau wants to revise it because he believes that “the French people must be able to decide, by referendum, on any legislative question”. “The designers of the Constitution are General de Gaulle, it is Michel Debré, that is respectable,” launched Édouard Philippe with regard to the LR candidate.

Bruno Retailleau seeks to “censor censorship” according to Édouard Philippe

He also criticized Bruno Retailleau's proposal to be able to circumvent a decision of the Constitutional Council by a referendum "to 'censor censorship'", which would amount to putting the law above the Constitution. “When I was prime minister, I sometimes railed internally against the decisions it (the Constitutional Council) was taking. But, in our rule of law, which I hold dear, we must respect a certain number of rules,” he argued. “Let us not denigrate a system which aims to verify that Parliament writes the law correctly (...) I do not believe that we gain anything in the defense of democracy by instilling a relationship of mistrust with the judges,” he said.