On April 8, a bill was very discreetly proposed for...

On April 8, a bill was very discreetly proposed for the reintroduction of the death penalty for those guilty of committing "terrorist acts". The proposal, signed by 47 UMP parliamentarians, the center right coalition of Jaques Chirac, cited the terrorist bombings in Madrid on March 11.
The National Assembly is not new to this kind of initiative: in 1993, following national rage over the rape and murder of Karine, an eight year old girl, 137 parliamentarians pronounced themselves in favour of the death penalty for those found guilty of committing crimes on children or law enforcement officials.
The death penalty has little support in France. According to the abolitionist organization ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) any proposal for the reintroduction of capital punishment in France is "judicially almost impossible".
The country formally abolished the death penalty in 1981. The last execution took place in 1976 during the presidency of Giscard D'Estaing, who refused to pardon a man convicted of killing a minor.