Sébastien Chenu wants to “manufacture” workers rather than “import” them, his exit unworthy

LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

The RN deputy from the North and vice-president of the Assembly Sébastien Chenu outraged several left-wing leaders with his comments on the “natality”.

POLITICS – The deputy of the National Rally Sébastien Chenu made himself, within the framework of an exchange on the pension reform this Monday, February 13, the defender of a pronatalist policy dear to his party. A speech which, in substance as in form, annoyed several figures on the left.

Failing to demonstrate, the National Rally chose the National Assembly to show its opposition to the government’s project. Marine Le Pen’s group tabled just over 200 amendments, some of which relate to the birth rate. But beyond the question of the sustainability of the pension scheme, the RN especially hopes “ensure the perpetuity of French civilization and population”. “I prefer that we manufacture French workers rather than import them”said Sébastien Chenu.

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The deputy from the North quotes the geographer Laurent Chalard: “He said that a birth rate policy is more effective in meeting labor needs than an immigration policy. We believe that in order to produce the French workers of tomorrow, families must be helped. This is the logic in which we wish to orient ourselves (…). That we have more young French people tomorrow rather than opening the floodgates and seeing immigration as a settlement project”adds Sébastien Chenu, who nevertheless refutes the term “natalist policy” “identity”.

“Our bellies are not the pension adjustment variables”

These remarks made several environmentalist and rebellious politicians react. “The RN is using the debate on pension reform to highlight its pronatalist policy based on identity and racism”thus castigated the MEP Manon Aubry.

At the same time, other voices were raised against the reductive vision of women conveyed by Sébastien Chenu. “Citizens are reduced to layers: procreate to ‘manufacture’ workers”is indignant the ecologist deputy Sandra Regol. “Our bellies are not available to the economic system. Our bellies are not the adjustment variables for pensions”, abounds his colleague Sandrine Rousseau.

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“For the extreme right, the birth of a child is not the arrival of a future citizen of the Republic, but the making of a worker. According to them, people are not persons, but goods that are manufactured or imported.adds the rebellious Bastien Lachaud, punctuating his tweet with a hashtag “filthy”.

As Léa Salamé recalled on the air, the words of the deputy from the North are in agreement with the line defended by the far-right party since the time of Jean-Marie Le Pen. A legacy that does not move Sébastien Chenu, for whom “natalist policy” is not “not a big word”.

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