Three quarters of an hour after the environmentalists, the rebellious deputies met at 10 am in front of the entrance to the Palais Bourbon on Tuesday, July 9. For the first-time elected representatives, it was an opportunity to discover this emblematic place of power where every bill and proposed law has been meticulously examined since 1799. For the re-elected parliamentarians, it was a return to their workplace, which some feared they would not return to after the dissolution of the National Assembly.
And as with every parliamentary return, the agenda was packed: visiting the walls, creating badges, photo sessions, distributing the rules of the National Assembly and tricolor sashes, holding a microphone with a cohort of journalists… The day before, the Palais Bourbon saw a first salvo of deputies parade past, who came for their pre-parliamentary return before the first public session of the 17th legislature, on July 18.
July 18 – election of the presidency of the lower house
This is a key date, since it will then be a question of electing the president of the lower house. As tradition dictates, this first session will be chaired by the oldest member of parliament, assisted by the six youngest elected members. This is the task that falls for the second time to the 81-year-old National Front member José Gonzalez. In 2022, this “child of a France elsewhere” spoke with emotion about his “native land” from which he was “torn away”. Some within the late Nupes saw it as a barely veiled ode to French Algeria and colonialism. “Introducing this legislature with a nostalgic speech about French Algeria, to applause: a disgrace!” thundered the rebellious Bastien Lachaud.
Two years later, while the ranks of the left have expanded by thirty deputies, will José Gonzalez bring out the memories of his childhood spent in Algeria? The answer will be on July 18, a few minutes before the 577 deputies go to slip a secret ballot into the ballot box installed on the platform to raise the candidate they support to the rank of fourth person in the State.
A privilege traditionally reserved for one or more members of the parliamentary majority. Problem: with 193 deputies from the New Popular Front (NFP), 165 from the presidential coalition, and 143 from the National Rally (RN), no clear majority, even relative, emerged from the ballot boxes on the evening of the second round of the early legislative elections.
It is therefore impossible for a single bloc to lead a member of parliament from its ranks to the rostrum. And Yaël Braun-Pivet, who is running for her own succession, knows this well. For several days, the outgoing president of the National Assembly has been pleading in all directions for an alliance ranging from the “Republicans” to the “social democrats”. Without forgetting to specify “the socialists and the ecologists”, some of whom do not hide their ambitions. On Sud Radio this Tuesday morning, Sandrine Rousseau admitted that she would like to be a candidate for the rostrum.
But July 18 is also the day of the official composition of the political groups in the Assembly. Thus, before the end of the day, each will have to submit the list of its members to the general secretariat of the presidency of the Assembly, with the possibility of mentioning whether or not it is in the opposition – again under the pretext that a clear majority, even relative, emerges by then.
July 19 – Distribution of the coveted positions of the “Bureau”
The next day, the election of the famous “Bureau”, the highest authority of the National Assembly, took place. Responsible among other things for representing the entire institution and its members during external events, this office is composed of six vice-presidents, three quaestors and twelve secretaries. Highly coveted positions, which are already crystallizing tensions.
This Tuesday, the rebels and the environmentalists called in particular to prevent the RN from accessing these key functions. “The extreme right is not compatible with the Republic. The National Rally must not occupy any position in this National Assembly”, thundered the former head of the deputies Les Ecologistes Cyrielle Chatelain.
Statements that have sparked the ire of members of the party with the flame, who castigate “anti-republican” and “anti-democratic” behavior. “Today we represent 10 million French people, 143 deputies here,” argued the RN deputy of Loiret Thomas Ménagé on LCP, calling on “all other political forces, beyond the New Popular Front, to respect the choices of voters.”
July 20 – Election of committee chairs
Another strategic function: the presidency of the standing committees. There are eight of them: finance, cultural affairs, economic affairs, foreign affairs, social affairs, national defense, sustainable development and laws. The seats of each are distributed proportionally to the numbers of each group.
Until the dissolution, the rebellious Eric Coquerel chaired the highly coveted Finance Committee, whose presidency is assigned to the opposition. But once again, opposition presupposes a majority. For the moment, it does not exist, even if 289 deputies could manage to agree to form a government coalition by July 20.
Especially since within the NFP, which came out on top on Sunday, each group is preaching for its own parish. “There is only one socialist who can appease,” argues the socialist mayor of Marseille, Benoit Payan. While the rebels hammer home in unison that “republican tradition dictates that it is the largest group” that proposes a Prime Minister.
Nothing at the moment can guarantee that the National Assembly will have a majority, with a leader, on the evening of August 2, the date of the end of the extraordinary session. Thus, the 577 deputies could take leave without knowing whether or not they will be part of the majority when the new term resumes in mid-September…