In 2017, they were 424 to discover the Palais Bourbon. After the legislative elections of June 12 and 19, a good part of them will no longer see the gardens and corridors of the National Assembly. Questioned by franceinfo, a handful of these first-time deputies tell what they have retained from their passage to the National Assembly, after five years in office. They thus deliver valuable tips to those who could experience the joy of being elected in a few weeks.
For many, the apprenticeship of the function begins… before the legislative election. “I advise future deputies to read the regulations of the National Assembly and books like the National Assembly Survival Manual“recommends Mickaël Nogal, elected LREM from Haute-Garonne, who recounted his experience as a deputy in the audio book The session is open.
But theory is not everything. “At the beginning, it was folkloric”remembers Loïc Prud’homme, LFI deputy for Gironde. “We learned on the job.” “When you want to enter the National Assembly, you have to go back to messy sessions, to find out how things can go wrong sometimes”adds Matthieu Orphelin, a Macronist deputy who has become an environmentalist, who has decided not to run again.
“To understand the machine, it is necessary to review texts that have not been finished.”
Matthieu Orphelin, MP for Maine-et-Loireat franceinfo
Those who think they will be elected on June 19 must therefore cram, in parallel with their campaign in the constituency. As soon as they are elected, they will indeed have to make a series of decisions in record time: the National Assembly takes office on Wednesday June 22 for its 16th “legislature” and the new deputies will begin to sit in the Hemicycle from Tuesday June 28. .
However, we must not rush, tempers Yaël Braun-Pivet, LREM deputy who has become Minister for Overseas. “We must choose the location of our parliamentary office and our collaborators carefully, because there will be a lot of work on a daily basis”explains the elected representative of Yvelines. “Recruiting a good team of employees, whatever their background, is essential”adds Matthieu Orphelin.
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Ten days after the second round, Wednesday June 29, the composition of the eight permanent committees of the National Assembly will also be known. Here too, the moment is crucial for the new deputies. “You make wishes, like in final year, to choose the commission you want to join”says Mickaël Nogal. “Better to think about it beforehand to find yourself in the one that suits you best”abounds Yaël Braun-Pivet, lawyer by profession, who took the head of the very technical law commission in 2017.
It is then that the serious things begin with an extraordinary meeting generally organized from the month of July, which allows the Assembly to consider the first texts carried by the new government. Very quickly, “you have to identify the key people in the firms and build relationships with them”insists Aurélien Taché, who left the LREM majority in May 2020. At the same time, several deputies advise novices to make themselves known to their colleagues … and to the general public.
“From the summer of 2017, I was rapporteur for the budget on immigration and speaker of the group on Ceta, remembers MP LR Pierre-Henri Dumont. I was immediately empowered and even became ‘Mr Brexit’ in the eyes of many people.”
“I would advise new MPs to specialize. It’s good to have an opinion on a lot of things, but to think that we’re going to be relevant in talking about all the subjects is a risk.”
Mickaël Nogal, MP for Haute-Garonneat franceinfo
This is how some parliamentarians may be led to support a particular law, an exercise “great”, according to Jean-Michel Fauvergue, former boss of the Raid. The LREM deputy for Seine-et-Marne, who is not standing, was at the initiative of the Global Security Law with his colleague Alice Thourot. “We are in the very exercise of the essential role of the deputy which unfortunately is all too rarehe explains. It’s exciting work, you interview people and you come up with lots of proposals. It’s worth living.”
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Sometimes, the deputy can join a parliamentary commission of inquiry on very specific subjects. “When that happens, we set aside a few ancillary tasks and entrust them to colleaguessays Loïc Prud’homme, who chaired the commission on industrial food in 2018. It’s an intense, almost exclusive, six-month job.” Four years later, the LFI deputy remains unsatisfied: “If it had to be done over again, I would lead it differently, because we don’t yet measure all the power we can have. I could have done better, dig more into such and such a question. you’re a deputy and you have the power to do this, don’t hesitate, you can go and check this and that’.”
Members must spend time in committee, “but you should never cut yourself off from the field, it’s very important despite the large number of texts to study”, warns Matthieu Orphelin. Betting on his parliamentary assistants, returning as often as possible to the constituency, responding to voters on social networks… Each MP has his own method. Pierre-Henri Dumont, for example, organized video game games in his office, until the Covid-19 crisis. “The idea was to exchange two or three hours with the young people of my constituency, that’s part of the job”he defends.
Back in the Assembly, where they are usually in the middle of the week, the deputies must confront one of their main missions: to vote on the laws. “At the beginning of the mandate, says Matthieu OrphelinRoselyne Bachelot said to me ‘Matthieu, I give you one piece of advice, always vote with your convictions rather than with the instructions, it will save you from doing a lot of bullshit’.”
“There is a freedom to vote in relation to the group. These are the same values that we carry, but sometimes it is not the same path.”
Pierre-Henri Dumont, MP for Pas-de-Calaisat franceinfo
Unlike his Republican colleague, LREM MP Jean-Michel Fauvergue believes that“we must not forget where we come from and not betray the commitments we have made”even if it means giving the flank to criticism from the opposition, which castigates deputies “booties” of the majority. And the former boss of the Raid to add: “You have to be stoic in the face of events, not lose your cool. I am thinking of questions to the government. The Hemicycle is a bad theater where the actors are not good, in general, but you have to stay at the end of the play and know how to applaud despite everything.”
Once they leave this “bad theater”, the deputies can find the journalists, present in the room of the Four Columns. The, “it is useless to give the elements of language, we must answer the questions well and not panic, because journalists are our friends”continues Jean-Michel Fauvergue.
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The media can even allow a novice MP to make himself known to the general public, provided he “do not abuse punchlines, which should be consumed in moderation”warns Mickaël Nogal. “Show your work, because you will be recognized first for it.”
“Deep down, it is necessary to remain yourself.”
Yaël Braun-Pivet, elected MP for Yvelines in 2017at franceinfo
Week after week, the deputies chain the long days, for a marathon with the paces of permanent sprint. “You have to balance your efforts well, because five years is a very long time”assures Matthieu Orphelin, victim of a burn-out at the end of 2019. “You dream of having 48-hour days”laughs Mickaël Nogal. “My weekend usually starts on Sunday at 8 p.m. and I sleep in until 8:30 a.m. on Monday.illustrates Pierre-Henri Dumont. We have little or no privacy, but that didn’t stop me from going away for two weeks in the summer and one week at Christmas.”
With this frenetic pace, “there is a preparatory work with his relatives”warns Loïc Prud’homme. “Having understanding relatives is a good basis”confirms Mickaël Nogal.
“You have to be ready to leave home for three days every week, cancel your holidays or postpone them.”
Loïc Prud’homme, Member of Parliament for Girondeat franceinfo
To rest and “to avoid dozing” during parliamentary sessions, Jean-Michel Fauvergue advises taking “a lemonade at the refreshment bar of the Assembly”. In this atypical place of the Palais Bourbon, located behind the Hemicycle and reserved for deputies, “you meet all the colleagues and problems are resolved informally”, smiles Mickaël Nogal. This is where the debate continues. “during moments of relaxation, around a meal”sometimes even with the opposition.
Finally, many MPs face verbal and physical abuse while in office. Dozens of offices have been degraded over the past five years and the parliamentarians contacted by franceinfo confide that they have received countless threats.
“You have to prepare for a pretty tough world in politics.”
Matthieu Orphelin, MP for Maine-et-Loireat franceinfo
“Those who come from civil society were not used to that”, explains Jean-Michel Fauvergue, threatened by Daesh when he was at the controls of the Raid. In addition to attacks related to government health policy, Yaël Braun-Pivet has also been targeted by anti-Semitic threats. The new minister advises “not to hide it and to file a complaint systematically. It is fundamental, otherwise it is those who utter them who win.”
Permanent political battles, an infernal pace, very present threats… Would there only be blows to take once the scarf of deputy on the shoulders? “The National Assembly is the main place for doing politics in France. It’s very useful”, assures Matthieu Orphelin. This is even the case in the opposition, assures the rebellious deputy Loïc Prud’homme: “Recently, I thought to myself that we had spent five years taking setbacks, but the battle was not in vain. We held on to what we were there for.” Five years later, he decided to be a candidate for his succession. If they are re-elected, the first-time deputies of 2017 will really have nothing new.