Éric Coquerel, Nupes-LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, was appointed Thursday, June 30 as chairman of the National Assembly’s Finance Committee, a crucial post traditionally assigned to the opposition. He was nominated in the third round of the secret ballot vote within the commission.
Common candidate of the left-wing Nupes coalition, Éric Coquerel, 63, won in the third round with 21 votes against 11 for the RN candidate Jean-Philippe Tanguy and 9 for the LR Véronique Louwagie, while the majority deputies abstained. After three adjournments, MP Charles de Courson (Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories) withdrew his candidacy for this decisive third round.
Mr. Coquerel is elected for one year like the other committee chairmen. ” The members of the standing committees are appointed at the beginning of the legislature and each following year “, specifies the regulations of the Assembly. The deputy of the majority Jean-René Cazeneuve (Renaissance, new name of LREM), the only candidate, obtained the other key position of the Finance Committee, general rapporteur for the budget.
Parity not respected
The other commissions are shared between 7 elected members of the majority: 5 Renaissance (ex-LREM), one elected Horizons and one Modem. At Les Lois, it is Sacha Houlié (Renaissance, Vienne), 33, who will chair. He is not the youngest committee chairman, François Fillon having been propelled in 1986 to the head of the Defense Committee at only 32 years old. In Social Affairs, Fadila Khattabi, Renaissance MP for Côte-d’Or was re-elected. Guillaume Kasbarian, Renaissance MP, will lead the Economic Affairs Committee. Thomas Gassilloud (Rhône), another deputy from the presidential party, takes the helm of the National Defense and Armed Forces Committee. Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, Horizons deputy for Seine-Maritime is elected to Cultural Affairs and Education. In Foreign Affairs, MoDem MP Jean-Louis Bourlanges (Hauts-de-Seine) was re-elected. Jean-Marc Zulesi (Renaissance, Bouches-du-Rhône) heads the Sustainable Development and Regional Planning Commission.
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Unlike in 2017, parity is not respected in these senior positions. But the macronists take shelter behind the election of Yaël Braun-Pivet as President of the Assembly, the first woman to perch, and Aurore Bergé as patroness of the LREM parliamentary group. Since the constitutional reform of 2008, the standing committees have increased power. They are the first to take up a text that corresponds to their field of competence and can amend it. Committee chairmen can also intervene during the sessions, when they wish, on a text that concerns them. A privilege, while speaking time is tightly controlled in the hemicycle.
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(With AFP)