French Lawmaker Unveils Radical Plan to Transform Troubled Suburbs After Riots

Titled "Repairing the neighborhoods, restoring the Republic," this plan includes about twenty concrete proposals. The plan is structured around three pillars: "security-justice," "planning and housing," and "meritocracy and the French republican promise." "The objective is to restore the Republic throughout the territory," explains Vincent Jeanbrun to Le Parisien, saying he has nurtured his reflection from two years of hearings with "experts" from the judicial, police, prison, educational and urban planning worlds.

The LR MP for Val-de-Marne intends to "contribute" his proposals "to the debate." He hopes that working-class neighborhoods will not remain neglected by the authorities, at the risk of becoming or remaining areas of "non-Republic." According to him, it is necessary to give more powers to municipal police, to authorize the use of drones for law enforcement, to "restore short sentences and create house arrest." He also believes it is important to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 16, to "implement a principle of offender-payer" and to elect judges as is done in some countries.

The former mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses expresses his desire to put an end to "social housing for life" to "break up the ghettos," cap their rate per city, and exclude delinquent families from social housing, regarding the "housing" component. He proposes, among other things, the creation of a national public tutoring service, schooling from the age of two in priority neighborhoods, or the creation of a mandatory civic service for young people without employment or training. A way for him to "uphold, in his words, the French republican promise."

Jeanbrun intends to go far in his approach. "I will continue the meetings, request meetings with the ministers concerned," he said. He hopes that his plan will be translated into legislative proposals or bills.