De Fournas suspended from National Assembly for 15 days for racist remark

National Rally MP Grégoire de Fournas was suspended from the French parliament on Friday night for 15 days after he made a racist remark during a legislative session.

National Rally MP Grégoire de Fournas was suspended from the National Assembly for 15 days for making a racist remark during a debate in the chamber about migrants. © Thomas Padilla / MaxPPP

De Fournas, 37, was heard shouting the words "return to Africa” as Carlos Martens Bilongo was challenging the French government on Thursday about migrants stranded at sea.

Bilongo, who is Black, said he was deeply hurt by the interjection.

Other politicians, including France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said they were shocked by de Fournas’s remark.

The comments prompted pandemonium in the National Assembly, leading the legislative chamber's president to suspend the session.

Members of the National Assembly’s managing body said on Friday they decided unanimously to give de Fournas the maximum penalty of 15 days.

Due to acoustic issues in the chamber, it was unclear whether de Fournas said Bilongo or the migrants should return to Africa. De Fournas said he was referring to Europe-bound migrants rescued at sea and not to his fellow lawmaker.

“I fully stand by my comments about the anarchic migratory policies of our country,” he tweeted on Friday.

Je suis totalement innocent des faits que l’on me reproche. Je ressens cette sanction d’une dureté inouïe avec une grande injustice. Mais respectueux de l’institution, je m’y soumets.

— Grégoire de Fournas (@gdefournas) November 4, 2022

"I feel this sanction of incredible harshness with great injustice," he added. "But respectful of the institution, I submit to it."

Bilongo, a member of the far-left France Unbowed party, took part in a gathering on Friday near the National Assembly called by his party in a show of support.

“I’m torn between joy and sadness,” added the 31-year-old. “Because I received many messages of support overnight ... because I see all these faces here showing solidarity with me.”

Bilongo said he received thousands of messages following the incident from people telling him that they hear similar comments in their daily lives.

French anti-racism groups on Friday stressed that de Fournas's outburst echoed the familiar invective of Black people being told to go to Africa, regardless of where they were born or held citizenship.

SOS Racisme denounced de Fournas's comments as the true face of the far-right – that of racism.

The group's president, Dominique Sopo, said: "No matter what de Fournas said exactly, obviously, they are extremely violent comments.”

The Movement against Racism and for Friendship between People described de Fournas's remark as revolting.

Shock

“The National Rally remains, despite some efforts to normalise this far-right party, deeply racist and xenophobic,” it added.

A spokesman for Macron's office said the president was shocked by words he considered unacceptable in or outside the assembly.

National Rally boss Marine Le Pen tweeted that de Fournas was  speaking about the migrants transported in ships by NGOs.

“The controversy created by our political adversaries is gross and won't deceive the French,” she added.

In the past decade, Le Pen has rebranded the party in an attempt to distance it from the overt racist and antisemitic rhetoric of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen who set up the Front National in 1972.

The National Rally's members are due to gather on Saturday in Paris to choose a new party head.

Le Pen, 54, says she plans to focus on leading the party's 89 MPs  in the 577-seat National Assembly.