Hemicycle, perch, shuttle, committee, rapporteur… The Palais-Bourbon has its own lexicon with, at the center of all this decorum, the deputy. It is not a question of a trade (since any Frenchman is eligible) nor of a function (since a deputy is not named but elected by universal suffrage). The five-year mandate, which cannot be combined with the functions of mayor or president of a regional or departmental council, is paid 7,240 euros gross per month, i.e. 5,680 euros net (salary to which are added 5,373 euros per month in advance of money order fees).
On Sundays June 12 and 19, 45 million French people will be able to vote in the legislative elections to elect the deputy for their constituency, 577 in total. But what is a deputy for? What does he do with his days? What are its missions, its responsibilities, its leeway in a presidentialized Fifth Republic? Insight from franceinfo with four experts.
The deputy proposes laws and votes them
During Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term, deputies participated in 1,559 public meetings in total, spread over 735 days (the annual number of sitting days is capped at 120 for both the National Assembly and the Senate, but additional days may, in practice, be added). That is almost 6,100 hours of parliamentary work in the hemicycle of the Palais-Bourbon, from June 21, 2017 to April 30, 2022, according to the count of the Assembly. During these sessions, the deputies propose and examine texts of law, which go back and forth between the two chambers that make up Parliament. This “parliamentary shuttle” stops when one of the two chambers adopts without modifying the text previously validated by the other, explains the Senate. If the disagreement persists, the deputies have the last word.
In this process, each member, supported by a maximum of five collaborators, has the right to propose modifications to the text by amendment. A tool both used by the elected representatives of the majority and those of the opposition. When used in bulk, “the amendment is the most common instrument for obstruction, as they must be mentioned one by one before voting”, specifies Priscilla Jensel-Monge, lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Aix-Marseille. In 2020, the 40,000 amendments relating to the pension reform had, for example, forced the Assembly to limit the debates to a fortnight before voting on the text.
Like the government, deputies can also propose laws. They submit a lot of texts, but have rarely converted the essay in the past five years. According to the National Assembly, they presented five times more than the Prime Minister: 790 bills against 149 bills. On the other hand, the texts proposed by the government were almost four times more numerous to be adopted than those of parliamentarians: 94 against 24.
How to explain this difference? Members are first limited by the rule of financial admissibility. “Any bill that would have a financial impact, either to increase the charges or to reduce resources, is automatically evacuated”, explains Priscilla Jensel-Monge. But ideas can make their way, “if the government takes them back”.
Then, the deputies are subject to “a collective logic”. They therefore tend to vote in the same way as the other members of their parliamentary group, especially within the majority. “The executive always has an ‘ultimate’ means of pressure on the deputies: the dissolution of the National Assembly, as in 1997 under Jacques Chirac. There is therefore a form of voluntary submission by the parliamentarians”emphasizes Priscilla Jensel-Monge. Government bills therefore have a better chance of succeeding, thanks to the discipline and loyalty of the troops.
After the adoption of a law, there is still a way for elected officials to try to oppose the text. Sixty parliamentarians, at least, can seize the Constitutional Council so that it studies the conformity of the law with the Constitution. If this is not the case, the Constitutional Council censures this law, or part of it, as when it challenged last November the legal provision supposed to allow school directors to access the vaccination status of students.
He controls the government
Each deputy can control the action of the government by various means, starting with the committees. The elected member necessarily sits in one of the eight permanent committees (economic, social, foreign affairs, etc.), but he can also participate in special committees and parliamentary inquiry committees. “MPs take several months to dig deep into a subject with trips, hearings – of ministers for example -, resources, or during ‘flash’ missions”limited to a few weeks, explains political scientist Olivier Rozenberg, professor at Sciences Po Paris.
Among the permanent committees, that of finance, for example, is entirely dedicated to controlling the use of public money. “In the fall, the deputies vote on the annual state budget proposed by the government. Then, in the spring, they analyze the financial reports. This means that they are not limited to a simple annual budget authorization”emphasizes Olivier Rozenberg. Each year, each political group can also propose a topic for investigation. Commissions of inquiry are the only ones that legally compel interviewees to present themselves, as well as to tell the truth. Prison or migration policy, maintaining order, impact of the Covid-19 crisis on children … During the legislature, 25 commissions of inquiry delivered their report, compared to 17 during the previous legislature, according to life -publique.fr.
Another major control tool: questions to the government. Written or oral, these questions can be addressed to a particular minister or to the government as a whole. Since 2017, some 970 questions on average have been asked orally to the government each year, and more than 9,000 in writing, lists the National Assembly. Every citizen can access all the questions and answers.
Finally, there is the motion of censure. The National Assembly has “theoretically ‘life or death’ right over government”, writes vie-publique.fr. If 10% of the deputies (ie 58 of them) table a motion of censure, and it is voted by an absolute majority, the Prime Minister must then resign. In 2018 alone, the government of Edouard Philippe was the subject of three motions of censure, which were however unsuccessful. Under the Fifth Republic, only one motion of censure (out of a total of 58 tabled) was adopted, in 1962, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.
He can be the voice of the interests of his constituency
MPs represent “the whole nation and not their voters”stipulates the National Assembly. “They are not spokespersons for their constituents.” That’s for the theory. The practice differs somewhat. “In fact, some very locally rooted MPs represent either local or territorial interests, or particular groups, such as women or LGBTQI + people for example”, explains political scientist Nathalie Brack, professor at the Free University of Brussels. In fact, apart from the political figures “parachuted” into a constituency, “the deputies grew up in a territory which forged them”.
A deputy from a cattle-breeding region can try to join a dedicated commission or approach it, illustrates Nathalie Brack. A member of a rural constituency, affected by medical desertification or the closure of an industrial site, can put this issue on the agenda of a meeting by asking a question to the government, for example. Or contact administrations in his capacity as an elected representative for more information. Finally, if the MP belongs to the political group of the majority, he can use his network to get in touch with a ministry or a State secretariat, for example in the event of a natural disaster on his territory.
He “plays the role of social worker” in his constituency
MPs also carry out field work in their constituencies. In addition to ceremonies, company visits, markets and demonstrations, there are weekly sessions, where each inhabitant can ask for his elected representative. “Some deputies spend little time there. Others, up to two afternoons each week”specifies the sociologist Etienne Ollion, professor at the Ecole polytechnique.
During these hotlines or exchanges by letter or on social networks, “it is often said that the local MP plays the role of social worker. There is everything, community life, staff”relates Etienne Ollion. “It ranges from ‘my son is in a cult, do something’, to requests for social housing, aid, budgets… In the 1970s, it even happened that certain deputies gave money directly. ”
It allows citizens to feel represented
More symbolically, the deputy also has a social function: to allow citizens to feel represented. “Representative democracy was built on the idea that one did not need to be to represent, that one could transcend one’s own interests in the name of the general interest”recounts Etienne Ollion, author of several specialized works on the work of deputies.
However, the National Assembly is not the image of French society. Women remain under-represented in the hemicycle (39.5% of deputies), as well as young people (14% of deputies are under 30). The CSP+ are on the contrary overrepresented (69% of deputies against 21% of the population), according to figures dating from 2019. However, diversity “improves the feeling of representation, with the challenge of not feeling excludedanalyzes Etienne Ollion. And thus, to avoid entering into a logic that would oppose the elites against the people.