Two months after the appointment of Gabriel Attal, parliamentarians can finally see things more clearly: the government unveiled, this Monday, March 11, its legislative agenda for the coming months, culminating in its bills on the “end of life” and agriculture in May at the National Assembly. In the absence of an absolute majority, it will again be forced to seek majorities text by text. The ordinary session of Parliament ends at the end of June, but the government is considering an extraordinary session of “two to three weeks” in July, depending on the progress of the examination of the texts.
“End of life”
After long months of reflection, Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday that the text on the “end of life” would open up for adults the “possibility of requesting assistance in dying under certain strict conditions”.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal clarified Monday on Relations with Parliament, Marie Lebec. The text will not be subject to an accelerated procedure and should arrive in the Senate “after the summer”, added the minister, citing “the time necessary for a quality debate, peaceful in both chambers”.
Agriculture
As of May 13, MPs should take up an expected bill on agriculture. It “was reworked following the agricultural crisis, the mobilization of the sectors and the commitment” of the executive “so that it is a complete, consolidated text which meets the expectations of farmers”, underlined Marie Lebec.
“Given the issues, we want to leave all the time necessary for the debates to take place,” she added.
Accommodation
On another explosive subject, also in a sector in crisis, the government has planned that senators will first take up the housing bill.
Already criticized on the left, it must notably review the SRU law (Editor’s note, Solidarity and Urban Renewal), which sets quotas for social housing in certain municipalities. It will be discussed from mid-June in the Senate. There will then be “during the second half” a new text relating to the “decentralization of skills”, according to the minister.
“Economic rearmament”
Three texts are in the pipeline around the theme of “economic rearmament”. First a bill “on the attractiveness of the Paris market”, which could be examined the week of April 8 in the Assembly, then in mid-May in the Senate.
Then, a bill on the simplification of procedures, “in continuation of a previous bill on green industry”, from the beginning of June in the Senate. And finally another “on the opening of regulated sectors”, which according to the minister “should arrive rather during the second half of the year”.
Parental authority
The Minister of Relations with Parliament also announced that a bill on “parental responsibility and penal response for minors” would be included “in mid-May in the Senate” then “in June” in the National Assembly. The content of the text, which is partly intended to be a response to last summer’s riots, has not yet been revealed.
During his general policy declaration at the end of January, Gabriel Attal mentioned the establishment of “work of educational interest” for juvenile delinquents under 16 years old.
New Caledonia
After that on abortion, a new constitutional revision could also be implemented “during June”, concerning New Caledonia.
A first ordinary text, already adopted in the Senate, must be validated in the Assembly before mid-April to record the postponement of the provincial elections. Then a constitutional reform must be adopted in both chambers with a view to being ratified “before July 1” by a Congress specifically dedicated to this issue, according to the minister.