Testimonies Parliamentary collaborators, administrative staff… Behind the scenes of the National Assembly, hundreds of shadow workers

The 17th legislature officially opens on Thursday with the election of the president of the National Assembly in the afternoon.

Things are getting serious for the 577 deputies. They are meeting for the first time on Thursday. 18 July to elect the president of the National Assembly as the 17th legislature begins. But the work of parliamentarians would be impossible without an army of people working in the shadows.

The cramped office of Maxime Sauvage, secretary general of the Socialist Party group, on the second floor of a wing of the central courtyard: “I work 10 to 15 hours a day right nowhe confides. The political groups are associations and therefore I am in charge, as director, of the good administrative, financial and accounting management of the socialist group and related groups”explains the man who leads a team of eight people. Since the elections, the days have been busy : “Because when you install a legislature, there are many things to do : distributing the deputies to the committees, welcoming the re-elected deputies or the new deputies and then there are obviously political discussions, lists Maxime Sauvage. And here we are in a political situation where there are many discussions around Matignon and also around the presidency of the National Assembly.”

“New MPs need specific support because it’s a whole world that needs to be discovered.”

Maxime Sauvage, Secretary General of the Socialist Party group

to franceinfo

A very political role, confirmed by Ladislas Vergne, deputy secretary general of the Republicans group, “currently, the Republican right in the National Assembly”he specifies. He is a graduate of the ENA and a mastermind, indispensable when it comes to voting on laws : “We are creating fact sheets for our MPs, which remind us both of what the text contains and of elements which will inspire their voting position, or even guide their voting position for each text which is examined.”explains Ladislas Vergne. The idea is to keep a united group, to lead weekly meetings, to anticipate the legislative calendar, to talk with other groups and to talk to journalists, to do what is called off-the-record, that is to say, to give context to the positions of one’s group.

Téo Faure, parliamentary collaborator, accompanies a deputy, in this case an environmentalist, in his daily missions. “I work a lot on his press relations. It’s pure communication and the promotion of all his work. When he is in session, there is a lot of work behind the scenes for the construction of trips, for the writing of amendments, that kind of thing.”he explains. Téo Faure is one of the approximately 1 800 employees who depend directly on the election of their deputies, the position is therefore precarious. “When there was a dissolution, we learned that we were being made redundant, but we have to get back on our feet right away to start campaigning again very, very quickly.”the collaborator emphasizes. Enough to fuel vocations, why not become a member of parliament one day? ? He leaves the door open, like Maxime Sauvage. Ladislas Vergne, himself, has just tried but he failed in the last legislative elections.