Thursday evening, Édouard Philippe's troops did not come far from carrying out a
"political coup"
in the National Assembly.
A rather divisive bill calling into question the ban on the accumulation of mandates, which seemed to be on the verge of being adopted, was ultimately unable to be voted on, due to lack of sufficient time, at the end of 'an electrical session.
The Horizons group, which had included this text on the menu of its day reserved in the hemicycle, denounced an
"obstruction"
of the left, after it slowed down the debates until midnight, with great blows of money. amendments, reminders of the regulations and other requests for suspension of sessions.
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A “parliamentary niche”
,
a day where the agenda is controlled by a single parliamentary group, necessarily stopping at midnight, without the possibility of continuing another day, the examination of the bill cannot resume.
“We’ll come back!”
, however, promised the Horizons vice-president of the Assembly, Naïma Moutchou.
The text aimed to
“relax”
a 2014 law, adopted under François Hollande, which prohibits being both a parliamentarian and holder of a local executive mandate.
.
The text of the deputies of Édouard Philippe's party, allies of Renaissance and the MoDem group within the presidential majority, only proposed to partially return to this principle.
It again authorized deputies and senators to exercise the functions of deputy mayor (but not mayor), or vice-president (and not president) of a department or region.
Although rejected by the Law Committee on March 6, the bill would undoubtedly have been adopted in the event of a final vote.
A vote on its single article was thus won with 64 votes in favor and 44 against.
The majority divided
Supported by the right and the RN, and fiercely opposed by the left, it divided within the presidential camp.
But in a sparse hemicycle during the night session, the Renaissance deputies favorable to the initiative were over-represented, according to an executive from the group.
“A balance has been broken within our Republic”
, argued Horizons MP Henri Alfandari, who carried this text, judging that Parliament should benefit
“from figures firmly anchored in a territory”
to
“counterbalance republican Jacobinism”
.
“This debate must be held, it is normal, it is healthy, it must not be repressed,”
said the Minister Delegate in charge of Local Authorities, Dominique Faure, at the start of the evening, without speaking out either for or against the text.
The debate thus opened will feed
“the collective decisions that will come”
later, she added.
“It is difficult to understand why the debate is being put back on the table as it appears to be a regression
,” said Ludovic Mendes (Renaissance), on the other hand, whose group had granted freedom of vote to its members.
The left formed a united front in the face of the challenge to non-cumulation, emphasizing the risk of accentuating distrust towards parliamentarians.
Sensing a possible adoption of the text as midnight approached, the Socialists tabled dozens of sub-amendments at the end of the session so that there would be no vote.
“I am not sure that there are many deputies or senators who have time to do something other than their mandate as parliamentarians
,” argued communist deputy Elsa Faucillon.
“You are disconnected”
, launched the Insoumis Carlos Martens Bilongo to the Horizons deputies, while the ecologist Charles Fournier criticized them for nourishing
“a sort of nostalgia for local baronies”
.
This is not the first time that non-cumulation has been called into question.
The Assembly rejected a senatorial text in 2021, which had already embarrassed the Macronist majority at the time, accused of being
“above ground”
after the yellow vest crisis.