We say that a finite dimensional Lie algebra is quasi-reductive if it has a linear form whose stabilizer for the coadjoint representation, modulo the center, is a reductive Lie algebra with a center consisting of semisimple elements. Parabolic subalgebras of a semisimple Lie algebra are not always quasi-reductive (except in types A or C by work of Panyushev). The classification of quasi-reductive parabolic subalgebras in the classical case has been recently achieved in unpublished work of Duflo,...