#NotInMyName: LREM deputies dissociate from Aurore Berge on the veil on school outings

It is rather rare that internal disagreements with the Republic in Marche express themselves in public place. With a simple keyword #NotInMyName ("Not in my name"), five LREM deputies have yet dissociated Tuesday night from their colleague Aurore Berge, who wants to legislate to prohibit the wearing of the Islamic veil to the accompanying mothers during a school trip.

The MP, who is also a spokesperson for the movement, was the guest on "Ça vous regard", broadcast on LCP. Asked about the bill of the Republican MP (LR) Éric Ciotti who wishes to ban the veil to mothers during field trips, Aurore Berge replies that she supports and vote this text.

"I am consistent with beliefs that I have always had. I will assume the position that has always been mine, "says the one who, before joining Emmanuel Macron in 2017, has successively supported several right-wing leaders: Sarkozy, Fillon, Juppe, etc.

In an interview given to the Express on Tuesday afternoon, she also explained that "in a secular Republic, so that everyone feels welcomed equally, it requires a neutrality of this reception. "

"What she says does not engage the whole movement"

"There are messages that are part of a form of stigmatization, and I find it dangerous," replies Parisian Éric Bothorel, one of five MPs to have posted their disagreement on Twitter, and who were "together " at this moment.

The elected official explains that it is the function of spokesman of the Republic in Marche d'Aurore Berge who decided them to react in this way: "It is not necessary to let think that what she says engages all the movement nor is it like the parliamentary group. "

Especially as the position taken "assumed" Aurore Berge goes against the intentions of the government. The Prime Minister hammered on Tuesday in the National Assembly: he does not wish to prohibit the wearing of the veil during field trips. "I do not think (…) that the challenge today is to make a law on school chaperones," he replied to an elected Republicans who asked him to "get out of the ambiguity."

It was precisely to see Aurore Berge's media outlet when Édouard Philippe had spoken just a few hours earlier, which prompted the five LREM MPs to react together. Their keyword, NotInMyName, had already been used in 2014 by Muslims in many countries to dissociate themselves from acts committed by Daesh jihadists.

A very divided majority

These disagreements are a new illustration of the divisions of the majority on the subject of the veil. Sunday, the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer had felt that the Islamic veil "is not desirable in society." The deputy Aurelien Tache had replied, in an interview with Point, that this position "strengthens" the National Gathering.

Aurore Berge, for her part, took the defense of the minister. "Jean-Michel Blanquer conducts a demanding policy, Republican and equal opportunities for all children of the Republic," she said in the Express, defending to be isolated within the party. "I rub shoulders with many more people who do not want to legislate than the opposite," said Eric Bothorel.

Contacted, Aurore Berge did not respond to the time of publication of this article.