these five historic parliamentarians who are leaving the Upper House

This Sunday, September 24, almost half of the Senate (170 seats out of 348) must be renewed. More than forty parliamentarians have chosen not to run for a new term. Among these leavers, several historical figures who have left their mark on the Senate are closing a chapter in their political lives. Le Figaro focuses on five of them

Éliane i, the president of the communist group in the Senate

Last July, modesty prevented her from speaking to say goodbye to the hemicycle. After nineteen years spent without interruption on the benches of the Luxembourg Palace, the PCF senator from Seine-Saint-Denis, Eliane i, attends his last question session to the government. From the top of his “perch”, Gérard Larcher takes the lead in a warm tribute: “With her convictions, her commitment, her attachment to the Republic, her attention to the most modest and the poorest, she perfectly embodies the political family to which she is so attached, but also an et for the Senate and our Republic.” Receiving a standing ovation from her colleagues, the person concerned wiped away a few tears that day.

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Elected “senator of the year” in 2022, Éliane i became known for her role as co-rapporteur of the relation to vitriol on the appeal “sprawling” from the State to consulting firms. The four-month investigation establishes that nearly 2.5 billion euros of public money was spent in 2021 with these private structures. “It was an exciting adventure. I leave with the feeling of having accomplished my vision”she confides to Figaro. After eleven years at the head of the communist, republican and citizen group (CRCE), the almost retired 64-year-old wants to leave “place for youth”. “She is a pionate woman who has always respected her colleagues. She is part of this generation, which while being faithful to its values, carried out issues that would not have been possible elsewhere.praises her UDI senator from the North, Valérie Létard, who will also return the scarf.

Valérie Létard, UDI senator from the North

Valérie Létard was just 39 years old when she took her first steps in the Senate in 2001. The elected UDI from the North was then among the “benjamins” of an embly still graying. “I arrived with the first promotion resulting from the law on parity. This is where we began to see women and young people arriving little by little with the change in the voting method., she remembers. After 20 years of service at the Luxembourg Palace, this close Jean-Louis Borloo chose to hang up the scarf. “I didn’t see myself being a senator until I was 80. We also need new ideas and new ways of seeing subjects”she explains, back full time in her northern lands.

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In the last months of her mandate, Valérie Létard distinguished herself by her fight against the “zero net artificialization” of soils carried by the executive in its Climate bill. “It was completely inapplicable for the communities. What a senator can do is ensure that the government does not forget that there is real life and the reality of the territories”, she says. After a standoff, the Senate finally obtained “relaxations” to ensure the implementation of the system. “She never gave up on anything politically, she knew what she wanted”greets President LR of the Law Commission, François-Noël Buffet. At 60, the centrist even says “still so determined” to make himself useful in his department or “elsewhere”. “I’m starting to get tested by everyone in Europe. But I admit I have no idea what I will do tomorrow.”she confided recently on the set of Public Senate, definitely not ready to retire.

Jean-Pierre Sueur, socialist longevity

Stacks of files are difficult to balance on his large Questure desk. “This is all for the archives!”launches the PS senator from Loiret, Jean-Pierre Sueur. President of the Law Commission (2011-2014) then elected quaestor in 2020, the 76-year-old socialist bows out after twenty-two years spent at the Luxembourg Palace. “I didn’t want to do too many mandates”, he concedes. In his phone, the former mayor of Orléans carefully keeps the images of the tribute paid in the hemicycle by Gérard Larcher. “Jean-Pierre Sueur, 22 years in the Senate, president of the Law Commission, Quaestor. He undoubtedly broke the record for hours spent in the chairs of the hemicycle. We will have to write his complete works!”launched the tenant of the Petit Luxembourg, followed by thunderous applause.

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In his last years in the Upper House, Jean-Pierre Sueur returned to the spotlight in July 2018 when he became co-rapporteur of the commission of inquiry of the Benalla affair. “We played our role. The Constitution gives us two: to vote the law, but also to control the executive”, he congratulates himself, five years later. The investigation provokes reactions right up to the top of the state, where politically oriented conclusions are denounced. “No line of this report has been called into question”, defends the senator. At 76, the literary scholar now wants to take up his pen again after the publication of several works on Charles Péguy . “I have a few manuscripts in stock that I would like to publish”he slips.

Gérard Longuet, the liberal from the Meuse

In twenty-two years, Senator LR de la Meuse, Gérard Longuetleft its mark on the high embly. “He was, at the Finance Committee, a speaker who always gave a lot of elevation”, greeted Gérard Larcher at the beginning of July in the hemicycle. In its ranks, President LR of the Law Commission, François-Noël Buffetrent “one of the most intellectually brilliant minds in the Senate”. Three times minister, fifteen years MP, president of the Lorraine region… At 77 years old, this fan of “speaking the truth” therefore kept his word after announcing that he was seeking his last term in 2017.

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The former Minister of Defense (2011-2012) made nuclear power one of the defining battles of his political career, including at the Luxembourg Palace. Among his feats of arms, the former boss of the LR group in the Senate defended the project of geological storage center for radioactive waste (Cigeo). In 2016, he returned to the charge and tabled a bill to continue the burial of spent fuel in the bat of Bure (Meuse). “Looking back, I say to myself that I was quite useful on a certain number of subjects”he conceded recently on Public Senate.

During his senatorial adventure, Gérard Longuet particularly scrutinized educational issues. In 2021, he published an alarming report on the lack of attractiveness of the teaching profession. In this harsh observation, the special rapporteur of the “School Education” Mission points to the deterioration of the working conditions of teachers, faced with overcrowded cles.

Pierre Laurent, the former boss of the PCF who became a senator

After the communist Éliane i, the benches of the left are losing yet another figure. “There is a page that is turning, but there will be life in the Senate after us”, modestly sweeps away Pierre Laurent. At 66, the communist senator from Paris leaves “without regret” neither “bitterness” the seat he had held for twelve years. “The right to retirement is not only defended in the chamber. We must also take advantage of it”, he laughs. It is at the Luxembourg Palace that the former national secretary of the PCF (2010-2018) discovers for the first time the workings of parliamentary life. “It’s a lot of memories and emotion”he says, as he closes his last boxes.

At the head of one of the eight vice-presidencies of the Upper House since 2020, the former editorial director of Humanity gets acquainted with the backstage of the institution. It was during his time in the Senate that he became pionate about issues relating to West Africa, after joining the Foreign Affairs Committee. An experience that he intends to put to the benefit of his party in which he will continue to campaign.