Emmanuel Macron suggests in a video broadcast Tuesday May 7 by Elle magazine to open a “debate” on the establishment of a possible “visiting duty” for fathers in single-parent families, today mainly the responsibility of women .
“I want us to be able to open this debate, which is, basically, both a debate on parenthood and a debate on equality between women and men, which is that of establishing a visiting duty, a duty to support children until they reach adulthood,” says the president in a short video published by Elle on her Instagram account. Emmanuel Macron also gave an interview to the women's weekly which will be on newsstands on Wednesday.
“When there is a father, he must exercise all his duties and the mother, when she is in this situation, can demand regular visits,” adds the Head of State, referring to the need for fathers participate, for example, in parent-teacher meetings and are “stakeholders” in the child’s education.
A bill already tabled
“It is a duty to be a parent and it is a duty that does not end at the time of divorce or separation” and parents must “exercise their responsibilities” together, underlines -he. He considers that “including for the child, it’s better. Because a child who never sees his father is a child who feels abandoned” and “whose emotional and educational development is not the same.”
This initiative of the Head of State seems to join that of the deputy for Meurthe-et-Moselle, Thibault Bazin (Les Républicains), who tabled a bill to this effect. This aims to transform the “right of visitation and accommodation” into a “duty of visitation and accommodation of the child” for the parent not living with the child. The text provides for a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros if this visiting duty is not respected.
