Thursday, deputies will meet to elect their president. Before this crucial vote, a period of three days will be dedicated to the appointment of different strategic positions, in a context of uncertainty exacerbated by the fragmentation of the hemicycle.
An unprecedented return in the middle of summer for the deputies of the XVIIth legislature of the Fifth Republic
A back-to-school in the middle of July. This is what the 577 deputies elected in the early legislative elections will experience. The XVIIth legislature of the Fifth Republic, precipitated by the dissolution wanted by Emmanuel Macron after the European elections, officially begins on Thursday, July 18 for a theoretical duration of five years. Theoretical, because a new dissolution will be possible from the first anniversary of the second round of legislative elections, which have shaken up the face of the Palais-Bourbon.
For now, deputies must, in three days, vote for the presidency of the lower house, designate those who will occupy strategic positions, and distribute themselves in different parliamentary committees. Mandatory stages that take on a crucial character this year in a highly divided hemicycle. Franceinfo details the schedule of this already decisive weekend.
Thursday, at 3 pm: election for the presidency of the National Assembly
Who will succeed Yaël Braun-Pivet in the Speaker’s chair? We will know that on Thursday afternoon. Starting at 3 pm, the 577 elected or re-elected deputies will take their seats in alphabetical order in the hemicycle. The first session is always chaired by the dean of the Assembly, assisted by the six youngest deputies “who perform the functions of secretaries,” specifies the National Assembly. As in 2022, it is the RN deputy José Gonzalez, 81 years old, who will take the floor to declare the mandate open. During his first speech, the elected official from Bouches-du-Rhône sparked a controversy by making highly criticized statements about French Algeria.
Afterwards, the 577 deputies will choose, by secret ballot, the president of the National Assembly. Each parliamentarian goes to the platform to vote, then scrutineers proceed to the counting. In the first and second rounds, an absolute majority of the 577 votes is needed to be elected President of the National Assembly. Due to the composition of the hemicycle since July 7, it is difficult to imagine a candidate obtaining the necessary 289 votes to take up the Speaker’s chair at the end of the second round. A third round should then be organized, this time by relative majority: the candidate in the lead wins. In case of a tie, the oldest candidate is elected. He then delivers his first speech to the deputies.
Thursday, before 6 pm: composition of the groups
Each group must submit to the presidency, before 6 pm, the list of its members and can specify whether or not it is in the opposition. A particularly complex choice this year, due to the difficulty in forming a majority. Unless there is a last-minute change, 11 groups will make up the future hemicycle.
Friday: designation of other key positions in the National Assembly
After the President of the National Assembly, there will remain 21 strategic positions to be filled on Friday to compose the bureau of the body: six vice-presidents, three quaestors and twelve secretaries. Vice-presidents sit on the conference of presidents and occasionally act as substitutes to chair a session. Questors hold a position that allows them to elaborate the budget and manage the staff of the Assembly. Secretaries, finally, supervise the voting operations and the counting of certain ballots.
On Friday, at 10 am, it is the group presidents who meet to proceed with the distribution of these bureau positions and “to establish, possibly by order of presentation, the list of their candidates for the positions of vice-president, quaestor, and secretary”, as well as the seats of the eight standing committees, details the website of the National Assembly. “The composition of the Bureau seeks to reflect the political configuration of the Assembly,” with a specific calculation: each position costs a certain number of points and each group has a number of points based on its weight in the Assembly.
Starting at 3 pm, in a public session, the appointment, “possibly by ballot”, of the holders of these 21 positions will take place if a consensus has not emerged beforehand among the group presidents. This year, their distribution will be particularly complicated due to the lack of a majority, but especially because of the disparate attitudes towards the RN, which had secured two vice-presidencies in 2022: the left has called for not giving any positions to the far-right party, while the Renaissance group has agreed to block both the RN and La France insoumise.
Friday, before 6 pm: applications for the eight standing committees
The submission of applications for the standing committees must be received before 6 pm at the general secretariat of the presidency of the National Assembly. The composition of each committee is established according to the size of the groups; the larger a group, the more seats it occupies on a committee.
There are a total of eight standing committees: the Committee on Economic Affairs; the Committee on Foreign Affairs; the Committee on Social Affairs; the Committee on National Defence and Armed Forces; the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education; the Committee on Sustainable Development and Land Planning; the Committee on Finance, and the Committee on Laws. Their most well-known role is to study and amend legislative texts before their examination in a public session.
Saturday, at 10:30 am: designation of the presidents of the eight standing committees
Saturday begins with the publication in the Official Journal of the composition of the eight standing committees. They meet at 10:30 am for the election of their bureau. Some committee presidencies are particularly sought after, such as that of the powerful Committee on Finance, which is always held by a deputy from an opposition group, following a change in the rules of the National Assembly dating back to 2007.
Saturday, at noon: meetings of the conference of presidents and the Bureau
At 12:30, the conference of presidents meets for the first time. It includes the President of the National Assembly, the vice-presidents, the presidents of the various parliamentary groups, the presidents of the standing committees and the Committee on European Affairs, as well as the general rapporteurs of the Committee on Social Affairs and the Committee on Finance, details the institution’s website. The Bureau of the Assembly meets at 3:30 pm.
Until August 2: continuation of the session as of right
According to Article 12 of the Constitution, after a dissolution and early legislative elections, a parliamentary session is “open as of right for a period of 15 days”. Deputies could therefore sit until at least Friday, August 2, before an extraordinary session in August or September, or the resumption of the ordinary session beginning in early October. However, parliamentarians currently do not have any legislative texts to study, as the dissolution has ended all work of the National Assembly and the government is limited to managing “current affairs”.
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.
