The division of certain political parties, the establishment of minimum thresholds, and other factors contribute to the increase in the number of parliamentary groups, which now stands at eleven. This multiplication of groups may make parliamentary life more complex and difficult to manage.
On Thursday, July 18, after the election of Yaël Braun-Pivet as President of the National Assembly, the 577 deputies officially chose their parliamentary groups. Each of them submitted to the general secretariat of the presidency a political declaration signed by their members and affiliated deputies, in accordance with Article 19 of the rules of the lower house. For this 17th legislature, eleven groups will therefore sit at the Palais-Bourbon. In detail, these are the Democratic and Republican Left, La France insoumise – NFP, Ecologist and Social, the Socialists, the Democrats, Together for the Republic, Horizons & Independents, the Republican Right, On the right, the National Rally, and LIOT.
While the number of senatorial groups in the upper house remains relatively stable (between six and nine since 1959), the number of political formations in the National Assembly has been increasing since 2012. Before this date, it had never exceeded six and now reaches eleven since July 18. This figure is the highest in the history of the Fifth Republic.
According to Gilles Toulemonde, lecturer in public law at the University of Lille, two legal and political aspects explain the multiplication of parliamentary groups. “Since the constitutional revision of 2008 which granted specific rights to opposition and minority groups, it has become interesting to be part of one of these two types of formations,” he says. “These parties now have the opportunity to make their own voices heard during parliamentary niches and government questions, and have every interest in playing their own role”.
“During the 1936 elections, then under the Third Republic, the Front Populaire coalition, gathering left and center-left parties, triumphed by winning 386 seats out of 608. They subsequently formed 16 distinct parliamentary groups. Although the Chamber of Deputies, now called the National Assembly, and its rules have drastically evolved since then, the formation of parliamentary groups had also been marked by significant political fragmentation.”
### A minimum of 15 deputies to form a group
Several conditions are required for the formation of a parliamentary group. The two main ones are the signing of a joint declaration by the different members of the group and a minimum number of signatories of this declaration, currently set at 15 deputies. Below this number, deputies of the same political party are considered non-attached. Furthermore, a parliamentarian can only be a member of one group.
In the National Assembly, the minimum threshold for the formation of a group has continued to decrease over the years. In 1988, it was reduced from 30 to 20 members to allow the communists to form a parliamentary group despite their numerical weakness. Then, in 2009, it was reduced to 15 members after a promise from Nicolas Sarkozy to convince deputies from the New Center and the Radical Left Party to support the constitutional revision of July 23, 2008, which finally passed by only two votes of majority.
“A high threshold will contribute to the rationalization of parliamentary work by limiting the expression of the diversity of parliamentarians, in order to stabilize the government. While a low threshold will contribute to the pluralism of political expression,” points out the lecturer.
### Specific rights for minority and opposition groups
A third condition, established during the 2008 reform on the modernization of institutions, now requires political groups to clearly declare whether they intend to be part of the opposition or if they constitute a minority group. The latter are groups linked to the majority with the fewest members or those that are neither in the majority nor in the opposition.
The statutes of minority and opposition groups give them common rights, including the right to include, once a month, a bill on the agenda in a parliamentary niche. “The ordinary session extending from October to June, theoretically allows for nine days per year dedicated to parliamentary niches,” explains Gilles Toulemonde. With 8 opposition groups and 2 minority groups, totaling 10 in the 17th legislature, problems with the agenda are likely to arise. With the increase in the number of groups, theoretically only one of these groups would be able to defend a bill during parliamentary niches once every 10 months, beyond the nine months that the ordinary session lasts.
It will be up to the conference of chairmen of the 17th legislature to determine how to implement parliamentary niches, according to information provided by the National Assembly. This body’s main function is to prepare the organization of parliamentary work and set the schedule for the examination and discussion of texts.
“One of the solutions considered regarding parliamentary niches may be to divide the day into several sequences, each dedicated to a different parliamentary group,” explains Gilles Toulemonde.
This conference is notably composed of the president and vice-presidents of the Assembly as well as the presidents of parliamentary groups. “If it does not reach a consensus, the conference of chairmen will have to show creativity, in this context of political tensions, to succeed in offering a niche to each opposition or minority party while respecting the Constitution,” concludes Gilles Toulemonde.
Source of the article: Francetvinfo
Pascal Petibon, born in 1980 in Lyon, is a renowned journalist and author, passionate about information and communication. After earning a degree in journalism from the University of Paris, he quickly joined various editorial teams, where he became known for his sharp analysis and clear writing style.
