Right-wing majorities in France and Latvia

In France, the Rassemblement National (RN) has successfully passed its first motion in the National Assembly, terminating the immigration agreement with Algeria. The Rapporteur wrote on 31 October: "This symbolic move, the RN's first successful motion ever, was hailed as “historic” by Marine Le Pen. Left-wing and centrist MPs reacted with outrage, accusing President Emmanuel Macron's camp of a lack of presence and accusing the conservative opposition of making common cause with the far right to abolish special residence rights for Algerians." More background information can also be found here at FokusAfrika.

After a 13-hour debate, the Latvian Parliament has decided to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. The Convention is a Council of Europe agreement ‘on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence’ that has been ratified by all EU countries. The decisive factor in the current decision against the convention was the approval of the Farmers and Greens Union (ZZS - Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība), which is also part of the governing coalition. The motion was first tabled by the far-right Latvian Party (LPV - Latvija pirmajā vietā), which belongs to the Patriots for Europe group. Latvian President Rinkēvičs referred the decision back to parliament.

In Riga, at least 5,000 people took part in a demonstration initiated by the anti-violence organisation Marta. Further information from Barbara Oertel at taz.

Redaction: Ulli Jentsch