In the National Assembly, the extraordinary sessions are often aptly named. Thursday, August 4, the deputies rushed, luggage under their arms, to return to their constituencies. The final vote on government measures on “purchasing power” thus ended seven weeks of debate at the Palais-Bourbon. where each elected representative, each group tried to make their way in this Assembly with fragile balances, a consequence of the legislative elections of June 12 and 19.
No absolute majority for Emmanuel Macron. 89 deputies from the extreme right. A resurrected union of the left. The Republican right still standing. For the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, the institution is “more than ever representative of the French and, consequently, of the fractures of society, of political and ideological divisions”. The first woman elected to this post, the former president of the Assembly’s law commission is one of the symbols of this new balance of power between Parliament and the executive, she who was not the candidate pushed by the Elysee.
Shocked by the loss of the absolute majority the day after the elections – the group has 250 deputies, some elected representatives of the presidential camp were preparing to experience a major political crisis. A month and a half later, they have managed to come to terms with adversity. “The texts of laws are adopted, the joint joint commissions (CMP) are a success, there has been no obstruction… The lights are green in an Assembly which is taking its full place”rejoices M.me Braun-Pivet.
Macronists in the minority
If the presidential coalition boasts of having passed its three main bills on the agenda – on Covid-19 and purchasing power – presented as « techniques » et “consensual”the days and nights of debate to achieve the expected result have raised doubts more than once in the majority. “We may have been naive in thinking that it would pass much more easily”admits the president of the MoDem deputies, Jean-Paul Mattei (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), who has lived in recent weeks as « un round d’observation » .
The oppositions, as heterogeneous as they are, have demonstrated that they could put the elected Macronists in the minority. The first warning came during the National Assembly’s review of the Covid-19 bill. The rejection of its article 2 (concerning the possibility of restoring the health pass for travel “extra-hexagonal”), on July 13, was enough to shake the executive. ” The situation is serious “had alerted Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne in the middle of the night. “A Nighttime Heatstroke”had euphemised, a few hours later, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron during his interview on July 14, before accusing “a baroque alliance” between the National Rally (RN), The Republicans (LR) and the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes). However, that evening, the conditions of the new political deal were being written in the National Assembly. No government coalition, even less examination ” text by text”, but a demanding discussion on each amendment, each article.
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