Samy, a young parliamentary assistant, has the sense of the formula to talk about Europe. “You have two types of MEPs: psychopaths and imbeciles.” No risk of sanctions for Samy, fictional character and hero of the series Parliamentwhose season 2 arrives on May 9 on France.tv, after a first season with great audiences.
This political comedy plunges us into the mysteries of the European Parliament, where the battles between nations of yesterday and the technocratic dramas of today are replayed. Deliberately full of clichés (from the mechanical efficiency of German civil servants to the shenanigans of Italian lobbyists), the series is a hit in the corridors of the institutions. “It’s a must for newcomers to the world of European business, laughs the communication manager of a think-tank. The series teaches the tricks behind the scenes of the EU, and above all it makes us love this slightly crazy Europe.”
Parliament However, there was nothing obvious: the fiction is not very interested in European institutions, deemed boring, unlike their American counterparts. “However, American politics is no less complex than European politics, it is very complicated to understand concretely what is going on between the House of Representatives, the Senate and the American executive, underlines Noé Debré, the creator of Parliament. But American series on the subject are widely watched all over the world. So there is no reason that the complexity of European institutions should be a problem for making series.”
A child of Strasbourg, Noé Debré grew up “with a view of Parliament” from his bedroom. The 36-year-old French screenwriter has always been fascinated by this building, where he was able to film his entire second season last summer. “It’s a place of mysteries, very little used by fiction, but above all an ideal combat arena for comedy”, says the creator of Parliament.
Not-so-boring technocrats
To make the negotiations around an amendment on fishing or green accounting lively and credible, Noé Debré works with scriptwriters who know the European institutions by heart. Thus, Maxime Calligaro still has the broken voice of a long trilogue negotiation – with the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission – to pass a text on the environmental responsibility of companies, when he answers our questions on the series qu he co-wrote. “Everything I hear about Europe, this cold monster with Eurocrats thirsty for the blood of nations, is completely contrary to what I experience on a daily basis, smiles this political adviser from the Renew group. In Parliament, people give themselves struggling to move the schmilblick forward and we’re having a lot of fun… All in 24 languages!”
On the screen, Parliament takes up the challenge of telling the story of European technocracy through caricature and exaggeration. Each national specificity takes for its rank, and conspiracies are never far away. Contrary to journalists, who have all the trouble in the world to make this European Union endearing, the screenwriters have a field day showing backstage scenes that are often bleak and always entertaining. “Europe has a bad habit of presenting itself to the world as very smooth, sometimes a bit boring, regrets Maxime Calligaro. With Parliamentour job is to take advantage of the conflict that exists behind the scenes to achieve an amendment, a consensus, a compromise… In reality, these are the fruit of many negotiations, battles and low blows.”
The comic series is also a means of reducing the distance between citizens and their elected representatives and European civil servants. “In Brussels or Strasbourg, everyone is aware that the EU has a problem of image and visibility, asks Noé Debré. By opening their doors wide, they said to themselves that the series was a bet to take.” A rather winning bet, since the series is already preparing its third season and should take an annual release rate.
“Parliament is a good series, which has the merit of paving the way for other more political European series, believes Guillaume Klossa, founder of the EuropaNova think tank and former leader of the European Broadcasting Union, the joint media company of European public service. Today, there is material to have fictions like The West Wing Where Borgen European style, with real political intrigue.”
Another sign of his success, Parliament debuts a promising actor in its second season: Clément Beaune, Emmanuel Macron’s Minister of European Affairs. If the member of the French government only gives the reply twice, he received a nice message of congratulations from the team after the shooting. A small SMS, condensed of all the humor of this series: “A star is Beaune.”
Parliament:
Season 1, on France 5, every Monday at 9 p.m., from May 9, 2022.
Season 2: available for free in full on france.tv