Hatred kills

Jean-Luc Soulier, Managing Partner

In the wake of the Hamas massacre of civilians on the Israeli territory on October 7, I had planned to write an article on the concepts of terrorist crimes, crimes against humanity and war crimes. A way of putting on my wig and gown against the abominations committed by Hamas.

But words cannot express the horrors that the world inflicts upon us month after month. There is no longer any question of a hierarchy of crimes against mankind, which ideologues and false prophets justify by invoking, according to the tropisms of their formatted thinking, nostalgia for a fantasized empire, misguided religious rigorism or antagonistic visions of history. For them, not all lives have the same value, even the life of a child.

After WWII, the world has made every effort to establish international institutions designed to guarantee peace, trade and the movement of individuals and ideas. Poverty and barbarism receded everywhere, before the return of hatred of others and self-hatred.

We must not merely condemn the massacres perpetrated in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, we must defend the values on which our model of civilization is based: democracy, freedom of the press, freedom to believe or not to believe, respect for others, confrontation of ideas and taste for travels and encounters, in a word, universalism.

European Parliament tightens the future Regulation on “prohibiting products made with forced labor on the Union market”

Claire Filliatre, Esq.

On October 16, 2023, the Internal Market and International Trade committees of the European Parliament adopted their position on the future EU Regulation “on prohibiting products made with forced labor on the Union market” (the “Regulation”).

This Regulation was proposed by the European Commission on September 14, 2022, with the aim of combating forced labor and promoting corporate sustainability standards.

On a global scale, the use of forced labor remains widespread, affecting some 27.6 million people worldwide, according to the International Labor Organization (“ILO”).

Still according to the ILO, forced labor can be defined as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.”

Compliance of radioactive waste repository with the French Constitution: The Constitutional Council takes a stand

Laure Marolleau, Esq.

The French Constitutional Council received an application from the Conseil d’État (French Administrative Supreme Court) for a preliminary ruling on the issue of constitutionality relating to the conformity of Article L. 542-10-1 of the French Environmental Code, in its version resulting from Law No. 2016-1015 of July 25, 2016, specifying the terms and conditions for the creation of a reversible deep geological repository for long-lived high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (the Cigéo project) with the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the French Constitution.

In a decision handed down on October 27, 2023, the French Constitutional Council, while recognizing that the legislator must ensure that choices intended to meet current needs do not compromise the ability of future generations and other peoples to meet their own needs, by preserving their freedom of choice in this respect, concluded that the Cigéo project does not infringe the rights of future generations.

Sport…. At war?

André Soulier, Esq.

Sport… a universal communion, beyond political regimes, religions…

The transferal of players from one continent to another, first from North Africa then from sub-Saharan Africa, the call, thanks to Spain and Portugal, of South America, while players from the Far East, China, Japan, or South Korea now join European soccer clubs, enriching English, French, German or Italian clubs with their talent.

And then, sometimes sparked off by national political clashes, and also now by confrontations between States and Nations, these translate in violent demonstrations, seemingly unrelated to each other.

Next session of our Compliance Task Force.

The next session of the Compliance Task Force created by the European American Chamber of Commerce Auvergne Rhone-Alps (EACC) in partnership with Soulier Avocats will be held on June 8, 2023.

The theme of this session will be “Sanctions and Export Control: When geopolitics impact businesses”.

Augustine Dumont, an expert in Export Control and Sanctions at Clasquin Group, will be on hand to share her experience.

This session will be led by our Counsel Claire Filliatre, Esq., Member of the Compliance Committee of the Lyon Bar and Chair of the “Private Business Ethics” sub-committee of the Compliance Committee.

Debate on freedom of the press and SLAPPs

On October 6, 2023, our counsel Claire Filliatre took part in the “Defamation /SLAPPs: How far does freedom of the press go?” debate at the Press Club of Lyon and its region.

SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are defined as a form of harassment and intimidation used against those involved in “protecting the public interest”. Their purpose is to censor, intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

Videoconference – Discussions between André Soulier and the Union of Honorary Consuls in France

On October 18, 2023, our founding partner André Soulier, Esq., former deputy mayor of Lyon and member of the European Parliament, participated in a videoconference with members of the Union of Honorary Consuls in France.

On the program: Joint dialogue and many anecdotes about Edouard Herriot, Pierre Mendès-France, François Mitterrand, Jean-Michel Aulas, Charles Mérieux, Ibrahim Rugova, Lech Valesa, and so many other people whose paths André Soulier has crossed over the past 90 years.