Despite the absence of an absolute majority, certain subjects are still consensual in the National Assembly. For the first time, a transpartisan niche, specially dedicated to parliamentary work – and therefore to legislative proposals (PPL) – is launched by the President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, this Monday, January 16. By seeking to overcome the traditional cleavage between parties and by advocating solutions likely to garner a broad consensus, this session aims to promote the work of MPs at a time when fewer and fewer laws come from PPLs. Thus, as of this afternoon, several provisions are being debated. The first is that of the centrist senator Valérie Létard aiming to create “universal emergency aid” for victims of domestic and intra-family violence, adopted unanimously in the Senate a few weeks ago. A PPL defended by the deputy MoDem Béatrice Descamps and the elected representative of the National Rally Emmanuel Taché de la Pagerie.
Other texts are on the program, such as the one on the prohibition of mistreatment of pets by the use of choke and electric collars, on securing the supply of French people with consumer products or even on the improving access to care through trust in health professionals. Often very consensual within the hemicycle or technical, these PPL can come from all political stripes. Because for the latter to have the chance to be adopted at the Palais Bourbon, “they must not be too biting”, recognizes with L’Express Benjamin Morel, lecturer in public law at the University of Paris II Panthéon- Assas.
Some parliamentarians also fear that the scope of this transpartisan session is purely symbolic and point to the low value of the selected provisions. “It is however logical and in the staffs of the parties, we are aware of it, adds the lawyer. If the subject were more divisive, it would undoubtedly not be adopted during this niche. We cannot have the butter and butter’s money.” And if this special day is new, there have always been cross-party LPPs. In 2010, a law on the prohibition of bisphenol in baby bottles had consensus among parliamentarians. More recently, last December, deputies from nine political groups – Communists, Ecologists, Rebellious, Socialists, LR, MoDem, Liot, Horizons and Renaissance – presented a bill against medical deserts, calling for a “regulation” of the installation of doctors on the territory.
Relaunch the parliamentary initiative
Since the legislative elections of June 2022, and the absence of an absolute majority, parliamentarians have struggled to come to an agreement. Evidenced by the use, on ten occasions, of Article 49.3 of the Constitution by the government to pass budget texts without a vote of elected officials. In the short term, this cross-party session could therefore “calm the opposition” and “send political signals to the different camps”, analyzes Benjamin Morel. The President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, was heavily involved in setting up this session. As a representative of the lower house, she has a role of “thermostat and evacuation of steam to avoid the phenomena of blockages of the hemicycle”, according to the public law specialist. Moreover, if the PPL are not always fundamental, it is always very rewarding for the party which proposes one to see it adopted.
In the longer term, this cross-partisan day can relaunch the parliamentary initiative. Because despite the constitutional reform of 2008, which established the division of the agenda between the government and Parliament, very few laws today are the result of a proposal by deputies. “The parliamentary initiative is very limited, comments Benjamin Morel. Most of the PPLs are remotely controlled by the ministries, they are called the ‘government submarines’. The others are discussed during parliamentary niches and often have little chance of be adopted in the Senate because the agendas are poorly coordinated.” Including for these transpartisan niches. Still, for the opposition, everything is good to take.