French Senate committee dismisses Armenian "genocide" denial bill

A committee of the French Senate voted in favor of a proposal on Wednesday that rejects a controversial bill criminalizing the denial of Armenian claims of genocide. This does not mean that the genocide bill will not go to the French Senate on Jan. 23 as planned. But if the senate votes in favor of the proposal rejecting it, the genocide bill will not be taken up by the senate. Wednesday's decision is likely to please Turkey, which has warned that the bill, if enacted, would seriously affect Turkish-French ties. The bill was passed in the lower house of the French Parliament in December, but it needs to be approved by the senate to go into effect. Wednesday's vote comes days after the president of the senate said he was becoming less inclined to pass laws on historic events. "I am becoming less and less supportive of making laws in Parliament regarding historic events," Jean-Pierre Bel said last week. Bel, a socialist politician, also added that he was worried about the direction of bilateral relations between Turkey and France "at a time when relations need to be strengthened." "We consider that if this law was passed, there would be a large risk of it being unconstitutional," said Jean-Pierre Sueur, the commission head. "We cannot write history with laws. Freedom of expression must be respected," Sueur said. A number of French senators, led by the Green group and the European Democrat and Social Rally (RDSE), also said they would vote against the bill.

Officials at the Senate press office said that in the vast majority of cases the full chamber follows the recommendations of the Commission of Laws. However, rejection by the Senate does not necessarily kill a measure that the lower house - the most powerful in France - wants passed into law. The National Assembly can resurrect the bill and try again, and eventually gets the last word.