XVIth legislature: an unprecedented National Assembly

Emmanuel Macron suffered a setback with heavy political consequences during the legislative elections of June 12 and 19, 2022. Certainly, his camp, united under the banner Together! (LREM, Modem, Horizons), came out on top, but lost the absolute majority (289 deputies) in the face of the strong breakthrough of the left united in the Nupes (New Popular, Ecological and Social Union) and the historic breakthrough of the RN.

An unprecedented situation: for the first time since 1988, the president elected or re-elected, does not record in the legislative elections an amplification of his victory in the presidential election.

What do you need to know about this new, unprecedented Assembly?

What is the weight of the different political groups? Who are they chaired by?

Who has been appointed to key positions at the Palais-Bourbon?

Answers in this file with links to the “Echoes” decryptions.

· MPs

The 577 deputies are elected for five years. Along with the Senate, the National Assembly holds the legislative power, that is to say, to make the law and control the government.

Parliamentarians can table bills and amendments, and examine government bills. They control the action of the government through oral or written questions, commissions of inquiry or missions of information. MEPs are also responsible for evaluating public policies.

Main weapon in the hands of deputies, the motion of censure against the government is subject to very specific rules. To bring down the government, it must be voted by an absolute majority. Under the Fifth Republic, only one motion of censure was passed, in 1962.

The political groups:

The groups, which bring together the deputies (at least 15) according to their political affinities, play a major role in the functioning of the Assembly: their presidents sit on the Conference of Presidents and the various committees (Finance, Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs, Defense …) are composed in proportion to the numerical size of the groups. Just like the distribution of speaking time in public session.

The new National Assembly has 10 political groups, equaling the record of the previous term. The majority finally has a total of 250 deputies divided into the three groups LREM, Modem and Horizons, with 39 votes of the absolute majority. The seven non-majority groups are all registered as opposition.

Extending the electoral alliance Nupes (New popular, ecological and social union), the Insoumis form an intergroup, an informal structure of coordination, with the socialists, the ecologists and the communists.

With less speaking time and prerogatives, non-registered are 9 in number. Among them, the sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and 6 leftist deputies hostile to the Nupes, grouped in a “pole” around David Habib.

· Who in key positions?

In addition to the presidency, many positions are distributed in the National Assembly, from the leadership of political groups to the coveted functions of quaestors or committee chairmen.

The president: Yaël Braun-Pivet

Yaël Braun-Pivet, the majority candidate for the Perchoir, was elected on June 28, 2022 President of the National Assembly, becoming, at 51, the first woman to hold the position of fourth character of the State. Elected for the entire duration of the magistracy, she will have to fulfill important missions for the organization of the work of the Assembly, parliamentary diplomacy and the institutional life of the country.

The vice-presidents:

Appointed in proportion to the political groups, the vice-presidents, together with the President of the Assembly, chair the meetings in turn.

Were elected on June 29, 2022: Valérie Rabault (PS), Caroline Fiat (LFI), Elodie Jacquier-Laforge (Modem), Naïma Moutchou (Horizons), Sébastien Chenu (RN) and Hélène Laporte (RN).

The Quaestors:

Directly inspired by the Roman quaestors, their role is to hold the purse strings and ensure that the budget of the National Assembly is used.

Were appointed on June 29, 2022: Marie Guévenoux (Renaissance), Eric Ciotti (LR) and Eric Woerth (Renaissance).

Committee chairmen:

Finance Committee: Eric Coquerel (LFI)

General rapporteur: Jean-René Cazeneuve (Renaissance)

Committee for Cultural Affairs and Education: Isabelle Rauch (Horizons)

Economic Affairs Committee: Guillaume Kasbarian (Renaissance)

Foreign Affairs Committee: Jean-Louis Bourlanges (Modem)

Social Affairs Committee: Fadila Khattabi (Rebirth)

General Rapporteur: Stéphanie Rist (Renaissance)

National Defense and Armed Forces Commission: Thomas Gassilloud (Renaissance)

Sustainable Development Commission: Jean-Marc Zulesi (Renaissance)

Law Commission: Sacha Houlie (Renaissance)

Group presidents:

Renaissance Group: Aurore Bergé

Aurore Bergé was elected on June 22, 2022 as head of the Renaissance deputies (ex-LREM). The deputy for Yvelines, from the right, succeeded Christophe Castaner, beaten in the 2022 legislative elections. She had lost to him in the previous election in September 2020 for this position, reputed to be the toughest of the majority.

Democratic Group (Modem and independents): Jean-Paul Mattei

Jean-Paul Mattei (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), a close friend of François Bayrou, was elected on June 22, 2022 boss of Modem deputies, succeeding Patrick Mignola beaten in the legislative elections. A notary by profession, he was elected deputy for the first time in 2017. Five years earlier, he had been the substitute for the unsuccessful candidate François Bayrou in the legislative elections.

Horizons Group and related parties: Laurent Marcangeli

Laurent Marcangeli (Corse-du-Sud) was elected on June 22, 2022 president of the Horizons group, the party created on the right wing of the majority by the former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, of whom he is close.

A lawyer by profession, he is a strong man of the opposition to the Corsican nationalists and had won the town hall of Ajaccio in 2014. After supporting Alain Juppé in the presidential primary of the Republicans of 2016, he left LR in 2018, opposed to the line of the new party leader, Laurent Wauquiez. He joined Horizons in October 2021.

The Republicans group: Olivier Marleix

Olivier Marleix was elected on June 22, 2022 at the head of the LR group. He succeeded Virginie Duby-Muller, who had been acting since Damien Abad’s departure with loss and turmoil to Macronie and his appointment as Minister of Solidarity.

Son of former minister Alain Marleix, former adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy, Olivier Marleix has been a deputy since 2012. This representative of the conservative wing of LR had sponsored Laurent Wauquiez in 2017 in the race for the head of the party, then Michel Barnier in the 2021 primary.

National Rally Group: Marine Le Pen

Marine Le Pen was elected on June 23, 2022 by acclamation president of the National Rally group in the National Assembly, where she was the only candidate.

The former presidential finalist announced that she would leave the presidency of the RN to devote herself to the presidency of the group which will have at least 89 elected in the hemicycle, while the far-right party had fewer than 10 deputies in the outgoing Assembly.

La France insoumise/Nupes group: Mathilde Panot

Mathilde Panot (Val-de-Marne) was re-elected on June 21, 2022 as president of the LFI group, a position she had held since October 2021, when Jean-Luc Mélenchon handed over to her to lead the presidential campaign. The group then gathered only 17 deputies.

A graduate of Sciences Po, this daughter of teachers was trained in politics by the former right-hand man of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, François Delapierre, when she headed the association Voisins Malin, in Grigny in Essonne, which aims to develop neighborhood solidarity between residents. In 2017, she coordinated the support groups during the previous presidential campaign of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and notably initiated the caravans for equal rights, before being elected to the Palais-Bourbon.

Socialists and Related/Nupes Group: Boris Vallaud

Boris Vallaud (Landes) was elected on June 23, 2022 president of the socialist group in the Assembly, taking over from Valérie Rabault, who was not a candidate.

Enarque of the same promotion as Emmanuel Macron, Boris Vallaud worked with Arnaud Montebourg at the General Council of Saône-et-Loire then at Bercy from 2012 to 2014 during the five-year term of François Hollande. He then became deputy secretary general of the Elysée then adviser to the PS head of state. It was Henri Emmanuelli who pushed him to present himself in his Landes stronghold in 2017.

Ecologist/Nupes Group: Julien Bayou and Cyrielle Chatelain

Ecologists have opted for a “co-presidency” assumed by Julien Bayou (Paris) and Cyrielle Chatelain (Isère). This co-presidency, a tradition of ecologists, will be “de facto” because article 19 of the regulations of the National Assembly provides for only one name per group presidency. EELV hopes to see this rule changed.

Julien Bayou won his first major national mandate with his election in June 2022 as deputy for Paris. A former activist for the right to housing and against tax evasion, he has been the national secretary of EELV since November 2019. He faced Valérie Pécresse in the second round of the regional elections in Île-de-France in 2021, without winning. .

Cyrielle Chatelain, little known to the general public, is a long-time environmental activist. This holder of a master’s degree in entrepreneurship in social and solidarity economy worked in a federation of associations for integration through housing, then in the metropolis of Grenoble. She was elected in June 2022 deputy for the 2nd constituency of Isère, beating the outgoing Jean-Charles Colas-Roy (LREM).

Democratic and Republican Left/Nupes Group: André Chassaigne

André Chassaigne (Puy-de-Dôme) was reappointed on June 22, 2022 as head of the Democratic and Republican Left group in the National Assembly, which includes 12 Communists and six Ultramarines.

This former professor of Letters and History-geo then principal of college, with the high talk and the mustache provided, chairs since 2012 this group, which could be reformed in 2017 and 2022.

Freedoms group, self-employed, Overseas and territories: Bernard Pancher

The 10th political group has 15 members, including elected representatives from overseas, Corsican nationalists and centrists. It is “a propositional opposition group. We will be useful to our fellow citizens: for their purchasing power, their health, democracy, freedoms and territories, ”said its president, Bernard Pancher, deputy for Meuse.

Under the previous legislature, he chaired the Freedoms and Territories group, bringing together around fifteen members, left-wing radicals, ex-LREM, centrists and Corsican nationalists.