"It creates confusion": Sandrine Rousseau expects a political outcome to the Bayou affair

No excuses. MP Sandrine Rousseau believes that the dismissal of the Julien Bayou case, acquitted after accusations of moral harassment and abuse of weakness, does not put an end to the political management of this subject within the Ecologists. While the investigation targeting the former head of the environmental movement was closed for "absence of infraction" , the MP, who had accused Julien Bayou of "behavior likely to destroy the moral health of women" , emphasizes that "legally, the dismissal makes him presumed innocent of the facts referred to in these complaints" , in a press release published Monday on Bluesky.

But she points out that "this is not necessarily the end of the procedure" , because Julien Bayou's ex-partner who filed the complaint does not rule out the possibility of bringing a civil action. She also believes that "the political issue is still awaiting its outcome and that is what creates confusion and harms the party" . Sandrine Rousseau argues: "At the Ecologists, we would not tolerate, in the name of our values, that an activist praises the merits of pesticides or advocates the ownership of private jets, yet these positions would not be covered by the law" .

But "if we are, as we claim, a feminist party, why do we have so much trouble recognizing that if some of our members were humiliated by a man who used the share of power that we had entrusted to him for this purpose, this contravenes our rules, our values ​​and requires a reaction from our party?" she asks. The conclusions of two internal investigations conducted by the party went in the same direction as the legal proceedings.

The Greens deplored the "suffering" and "negative consequences" that this affair has caused for Julien Bayou, who accuses the current leadership of "mediocrity" and "cowardice" . The person concerned, who left the presidency of the party and the movement because of the internal investigations against him, filed a complaint for defamation. "With each new denial of my innocence (...) this case is fueled and will end with convictions" , he promised.