He accused his rivals in France Unbowed of “manipulation” and his party also denied any personal attack on Mr Bilongo, a Paris-born teacher. “They understood, which I find hard to believe, that I was talking about the MP himself, which is completely false,” he said, calling Mr Bilongo “a colleague as legitimate as I am”. Ms Le Pen – who challenged Mr Macron in this year’s presidential election and then led her party to its best result in the next parliamentary election, with 89 seats – dismissed the row as a “crude dispute”. However, France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon tweeted that the comments were “beyond intolerable” and that the MP should be expelled from the National Assembly.
Macron’s party demands ‘heavy punishment’
A parliamentary committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss the incident, which could temporarily bar Mr De Fourna from the Assembly. President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party will refuse to participate in further meetings unless the council imposes a “heavy penalty”, its deputy speaker in parliament Sylvain Maillard said on Twitter. The incident came amid claims that Macron’s government is failing to curb new arrivals or deport those whose requests to stay have been rejected. There has also been intense debate this week over proposals to grant residence permits to illegal immigrants already working in France in “stressed” sectors – an idea that has sparked outrage on the Right. His ruling party failed to win an overall majority in parliamentary elections, leading to tensions as Macron’s government seeks to push key bills through the legislature. He has already been forced to activate a special clause to bypass a vote four times, notably in order to pass next year’s budget bill.