In view of the next legislative elections (from May 27 online, June 5 and 19, 2022 at the polls), lepetitjournal.com went to meet the candidates in each constituency of French people living abroad.
Émilie Marchès-Ouzitane, candidate for the 9th constituency for the Federation of the Republican Left, answered our questions.
Why did you want to stand in the next legislative elections?
As an associative and political activist, elected in a city of 70,000 inhabitants in Gironde with a political delegation from the city, I wish to bring the voice of the most distant and invisible to the National Assembly. French people living abroad have this in common: the remoteness of decision-making and the feeling of sometimes being forgotten. As a woman on the left, I want to carry out a left-wing policy following a liberal five-year term that has unraveled the social gains of our illustrious people, having considerably weakened our fellow citizens and having accentuated the divisions in our society.
What is your relationship with this constituency?
I lived in this constituency (Morocco), I worked there and met my Moroccan husband there.
So we have a strong family tie, my husband works between France and Morocco. For my part, I am involved in projects to build a bridge between several countries in the constituency and the young people of the priority neighborhoods of the town of Mérignac where I am elected.
How has your career been marked by the concerns of French people living abroad?
I lived in Morocco on my own at a very young age following my undergraduate studies. I got married in Morocco and experienced this difficulty of access to public services when you are far from the city where the consulate is located, for example. Administrative difficulties related to the marriage procedure among others. I worked with local contracts and experienced the social difficulties that many non-expatriate French people face because they are less accompanied and less prepared. The problem of issuing visas for ascendants and the family is a real violence for French families in the context of mixed marriages.
Today we compensate for this imbalance of public reception by dematerialization which accentuates the digital divide among many of our compatriots and in particular retirees and our elders. All of this contributes to the estrangement of French women and men from their institutions, the only links with their country.
How do you see the mandate of deputy?
The mandate of deputy is a mandate of national dimension, one becomes deputy of the nation. We sit to pass laws that are essential to decline in the territories.
The mandate of deputy is the balance between the national and the territory (the constituency). In order not to have a biased and above-ground vision, the field feeds the legislative work. Exchanges with compatriots in the field feed reflection and feedback on their needs. I must also be their spokesperson in the National Assembly, relying on the work of the AFE advisers, real local relays and the actors who promote our culture and our country.
The idea is to mesh field work with the ambition to make life easier for the French in their own right despite their geographical remoteness.
I want to apply my way of conducting a mandate with what I practice on a smaller scale in my city.
What do you think are the challenges facing the French people in your constituency?
The sociology of French people living outside France has changed, expatriates are often mentioned, but the representation of our compatriots is varied: dual nationals, mixed couples, retirees, expatriates and all those who go to try a new life experience abroad.
The COVID crisis has considerably impacted their lives, their projects and we must respond by offering them the support they need and to which they are entitled.
Several priorities are essential: access to the law, access to education and culture without conditions, social protection, defense of public services.
All these priorities were planed and neglected during the previous five-year term with a deputy who voted for all these sprains to the proper functioning of consular services, the creeping privatization of education and ultimately the weakening of our compatriots.
How is your campaign organized and who are your supporters?
My campaign is organized with the precious help of opinion leaders in the different countries that make up this constituency. My deputy helps me on the countries he knows and the one he comes from. We complement each other through our knowledge of the constituency. I have a very strong tie with Morocco, but that does not prevent me from having privileged contacts with the rest of the constituency, through associative, professional and institutional networks. I went to Morocco at the beginning of May to meet the French. But I have been staying there regularly for 27 years.
What areas of work do you want to carry out if you are elected?
First of all, I would like to meet as many French people as possible established outside France, those who do not always have access to dedicated representations and associations. I think that several priorities are to be developed like those mentioned above following a disastrous mandate of the outgoing deputy. All of these priorities were swept away and neglected during the previous five-year term with a deputy who voted for all these sprains to the proper functioning of consular services, the creeping privatization of education, unfair taxation, thus illustrating a form of contempt for our fellow citizens.
What is your assessment of the mandate of the outgoing deputy?
The outgoing deputy began with acts of delinquency by beating a man in France. I think that an elected representative of the Republic must be exemplary. Saluting his mandate is a lack of ethics and morals. I would have wished for my compatriots, a representative worthy and recognized by the quality of his parliamentary work, with regard to the balance sheet data, his ranking is often among the last hundred… And when he was active, it was for him to act on the deleterious policy of the government towards French people living outside France. During the pandemic, he was busier preparing for his trial, the verdict of which is a conviction without appeal.
