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French MPs officially given permission to ditch ties and jackets

French MPs can officially wear what they want to parliament (well, within reason) after authorities put an end to an ongoing row by confirming there was no rule to make them wear ties and suit jackets.

French MPs officially given permission to ditch ties and jackets
Photo: AFP

At a meeting on Wednesday the Office of the National Assembly issued a formal reminder that there were no uniform rules for French MPs.

“The office issues a reminder that no rules exist that state the dress code for MPs. There is nothing to oblige men to wear a jacket and tie in the chamber,” read a statement.

The issue of a dress code in parliament arose after MPs wit the far left France Insoumise party sparked shock among some right wing deputies by turning up to parliament without ties or jackets.

France Insoumise MPs vehemently defended their right not to conform with Mélénchon himself comparing his MPs to the working class French Revolutionaries who were known as the “Sans Culottes”, which translates as “without trousers”.
 
“We've had the Sans Culottes, now we have the Sans Cravates (without ties),” joked Mélénchon.
 
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But members of other parties in the Assembly were not amused.
 
A spokesperson for President Emmanuel Macron's La Republique en Marche (REM) party called the move an “insult”. 
 
“Arguing that, 'we're here to represent the French working class so we're not going to wear ties', I think that it's an insult to those people,” said the spokesperson.
 
Conservative Bernard Accoyer, an ex-president of the French parliament, has weighed in, saying that it represents “a lack of respect for the French people, the voters, democracy and the institution which is at the heart of the Republic.”
 
Despite the uproar, there have been some far more dramatic cases of flouting the MPs' tradition of wearing a tie.
 
In 1985, Jack Lang, then minister for culture, sat in the French parliament wearing a Mao costume and in 1997, another MP arrived in workers overalls. 
 
The parliament office does however demand that MPs turn up in “respectable” outfits. So it's unlikely we'll see any mankinis in the National Assembly.
 
 

EMMANUEL MACRON

Macron quips about cuddly ‘wedding’ pics with Lula

French President Emmanuel Macron has joined social media users in their jokes that likened his cosy pictures with Brazilian President Lula to those from a wedding album.

Macron quips about cuddly 'wedding' pics with Lula

Images of the pair smiling and warmly embracing during Macron’s three-day visit to Brazil circulated online this week alongside light-hearted captions and montages suggesting a loving relationship between the leaders.

“Some have compared the pictures of my visit to Brazil to those of a wedding,” Macron wrote Thursday on X.

“I tell them it was one. France loves Brazil and Brazil loves France,” he said.

Macron retweeted a picture of himself and Lula smiling during the visit, overlaid on the background of a poster for the romantic 2016 film La La Land.

Lula responded to Macron’s tweet, which was also shared in Portuguese, with emojis of the Brazil and France flags alongside two small love hearts.

One picture shared on social media this week showed the leaders raising their arms underneath a large tree in the Brazilian jungle was edited to show them holding red balloons in the shape of a heart.

“They are going to marry in the Amazon and have their honeymoon in Paris,” joked one user on X, while others said pictures from the trip could make up a wedding album.

Macron’s trip to Brazil saw the two leaders announce a billion-dollar green investment plan for the Amazon.

Lula hailed the relationship between the two countries as one that created “a bridge between the global South and the developed world.”

Macron’s warm relations with Lula mark a departure from the frosty ties between the French leader and Brazil’s former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, who led the country from 2019 to 2022.

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