Does the Horizons group have any chance of having its relaxation proposal adopted?

The Horizons group is at the origin of a bill to relax the 2014 rule which governs the non-cumulation of mandates.

Just ten years after the passing of the law prohibiting the accumulation of mandates, the subject returns to the table. Horizons MPs want to soften it. A bill will be discussed on Wednesday March 6 in committee before a debate with all deputies on March 14.

There is no question of unraveling the 2014 law, warns Indre-et-Loire MP Henri Alfandri. According to him, it is about reconnecting with the field: “Having a local executive function allows you to get your hands dirty, to confront problems. This is what means that, when we are here and we do our work as legislators, when we know how it works, we make fewer mistakes when writing the law. And we find that interesting.”

The text would make it possible, for example, to combine a mandate as deputy mayor or vice-president of a departmental council with a mandate as senator or deputy. But it is impossible to directly become mayor or council president. The Horizons group claims to respond to a request from local elected officials and French people who find their parliamentarians too distant from their concerns.

“If we review our organization, we will have more opportunities to be on the ground”

At present, this proposal does not really have a chance of being adopted by the deputies. For socialists, it is impossible to deny themselves ten years after voting for non-cumulation. Environmentalists and rebels are not in favor of it either. The Horizons group, on the other hand, will be able to count on broad support from the Republicans, confirms the deputy for Pas-de-Calais, Pierre-Henri Dumont: “I remained a municipal councilor in the commune of which I was mayor. That does not prevent me from being among the most present deputies in the National Assembly. That does not prevent me from being very present, every weeks, in my town.”

If the LRs will vote a priori with one man, it is far from being won on the Renaissance side. Like a majority of his colleagues, Ludovic Mendès believes that this is a bad idea. For him the solution lies elsewhere: “We are one of the only Parliaments to potentially sit from Monday to Sunday and to sit day and night. This clearly demonstrates that if we review our organization, we will have more possibilities of being on the territory. And perhaps we can think, tomorrow, about regional assemblies where parliamentarians can sit. Perhaps without the right to vote but at least to discuss.”

Off the microphone, some deputies evoke a maneuver by Édouard Philippe to attract the favor of mayors with a view to running for president. The bet is therefore far from won for Horizons. Even if the Minister in charge of Communities, Dominique Faure, for her part pleads for a relaxation of non-cumulation, without giving details.