We left them boosted, in the heart of a boiling summer. In what state of mind will the 577 deputies return to the benches of the hemicycle, for the new parliamentary session which officially opens on Monday 3 october ? Will the atmosphere fall again, a few months after the unprecedented recomposition of the National Assembly, at the time of studying texts as capital as those on unemployment insurance, the 2023 budget or the bill social security funding ?
“It must not be a mess”warned the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, in the columns of the Parisian, sunday 25 september. But in the opinion of many parliamentarians contacted by franceinfo, the debates promise to be even more tense than this summer. “It will be worse!” immediately launches Sacha Houlié (Renaissance). “The tension is palpable”assures the deputy LFI Aurélien Saintoul. “It’s certainanticipates the ecologist Sophie Taillé-Polian, there will be conflict.” “The more a wall we have in front of us, the more the interventions will be muscular”judges the EELV parliamentarian Sandra Regol, for whom the Palais Bourbon has become a place of tension because of the attitude of the majority.
For the parliamentarians of Renaissance, MoDem and Horizons, it is on the contrary the political agenda of the oppositions which generates a climate conducive to invective. “All the parties will be in congress in the coming months, from the Communists to the National Rally (RN)warns Sacha Houlié, also chairman of the law commission. For the renewable energy bill, the RN and LR will compete in their anti-wind discourse and I fear that EELV will not support us either.” “This summercontinues the deputy LR Philippe Gosselin, we were on a main subject, purchasing power, where there could be political junctions outside the box.
“There, the subjects that arrive can be more complicated and more divisive, such as pensions.”
Philippe Gosselin, LR deputy for the Channelat franceinfo
In this context of armed vigil, it is La France insoumise which should embody, as this summer, the most offensive parliamentary group with regard to the majority. “It is not a parliamentary heckling that we are leading, it is the manifestation of a balance of power expressed in the country. If the National Assembly did not live, there would not be this catharsis”defends Aurélien Saintoul, elected LFI of Hauts-de-Seine. “If there is anger and hope, it is normal for it to reverberate in the hemicycle”agrees his ecologist colleague within the Nupes, Benjamin Lucas.
For the researcher at Sciences Po Olivier Rozenberg, it is necessary above all to distinguish the agitation of the debates from a real parliamentary immobility: “The National Assembly has lived with invectives and insults for a long time. Of course, this can take on a stronger dimension, but that does not prevent the Assembly from functioning.” And Benjamin Lucas to call back “major debates much more brutal than before this summer”like the almost physical confrontation between François Hollande and Dominique de Villepin, in 2006.
Still, the MEPs have understood the interest of playing with a form of “theatricality” to interest the general public, admits LFI deputy Christophe Bex. “Around me, there are more and more people who watch La Chaîne parliamentary or Public Sénat to follow the debates”, supports the parliamentarian of Haute-Garonne. During the extraordinary session of the summer, LCP thus saw its hearings double on the parliamentary tranches, notes Le Figaro (paid item). Will the enthusiasm continue with the frenzied debates around the budget or the orientation and programming law of the Ministry of the Interior (Lopmi)? “Yes, there is more interest than before, with more suspense and twists”concedes specialist Olivier Rozenberg, who qualifies this new passion for a turbulent Assembly.
“I’m skeptical that heated debates lead to deep citizen follow-up, because it’s always complicated to understand who votes what.”
Olivier Rozenberg, researcher at Sciences Poat franceinfo
To be heard, some groups also want to take the opposite view of the invectives. “We are not here to make the stamp with the Nupes or enter their crazy contest, we are here to trace our pathadvocates RN deputy Laurent Jacobelli. If they want to do their circus, let them do it, but we won’t play that role.” Since sending 89 deputies to the Palais Bourbon, the far-right party has tried to display its respectability against the left-wing coalition, which it considers responsible for“excesses” repeat.
The four parties that make up the Nupes are not, for their part, unanimous on the attitude to adopt vis-à-vis the other parliamentary groups. “We, environmentalists, have shown the color: when things go in the right direction, we can support specific points”supports the deputy EELV Marie-Charlotte Garin. “We have a parliamentary traditionadds Sandra Regol, another member of the group. The fact of not having a clear majority is one of the things we are used to dealing with, especially in the European Parliament. For ecologists, this is a way of differentiating themselves from La France insoumise, in form more than in substance.
“There is a tribunician attitude at LFI, but they work more calmly when it comes to tackling concrete proposals in committee.”
Sandra Regol, MP EELVat franceinfo
The eight permanent committees of the National Assembly are precisely where the deputies meet in small groups to work on subjects linked to a specific theme: social affairs, defense or even sustainable development. “In committee, there is no invective, everyone unfolds their vision of things”assures the ecologist Sophie Taillé-Polian. “We can express our differences in a fairly calm way, we clash in dialogue”continues RN Laurent Jacobelli. “Off the microphone, there is a lot of goodwill, but the real question is how MPs train their colleagues in this logic of listening”believes Sacha Houlié, who recently organized a breakfast of the law commission “to remember the rules” within the instance.
The commission, a peaceful space? The debates can also be lively there, as shown by the hearing of Gérald Darmanin by the law commission, on September 20, relayed by the HuffPost. “If I had a joke, I would say that I prefer the Roussel left to the Regol left”launched the Minister of the Interior to the deputies. “His reaction is a bit like, ‘We don’t give a fuck what you think’, it’s incredibly violent. Everyone was flabbergasted, because ad hominem attacks are not accepted by the regulations. This sums up the whole tone of what we are going to have in the fall”, fears Sandra Regol. Otherwise, “even when the work is well done in committee, there can be twists and turns in plenary”warns Philippe Gosselin, who has just begun his fourth term as a deputy.
In fact, the hemicycle will be scrutinized more than ever this fall, in a configuration where the majority is only relative. “At the Nupes, we are 150 deputies, they must be 170 to hold the majoritycalculates the LFI Christophe Bex. It’s mathematical: it makes more noise when there are more people.” “For the majority, it will be necessary at all costs to have an almost permanent presence in committee and in meetings so as not to be banished”, assures Philippe Gosselin. Apart from the use of article 49.3 once per parliamentary session, excluding budgetary texts, the presidential coalition must not stray too far from the Palais Bourbon, at the risk of losing crucial votes. Finally, sessions organized at 9:30 p.m. four times a week, in October, can lead to intense night sessions, fears Sandra Regol. Divisive texts, a tense political climate, frantic rhythms… All the ingredients for an explosive Assembly are there.