He alone facing the national representation. As of April 3, Gabriel Attal will respond “ personally » to the deputies, during the question session to the government on Wednesday. Fifty years after the creation of the “QAG” by former President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the heads of the political groups reached a compromise, Tuesday March 26, around the President (Renaissance) of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun -Pivet, in order to“experiment” for five weeks this new formula which was, initially, far from unanimously accepted.
Gabriel Attal, alone on the bench for 45 minutes, will answer ten questions from deputies – one per group – of two minutes each. This new formula aims to “boost interest in QAG”, says those around Yaël Braun-Pivet, at the origin of this parliamentary innovation. In November 2023, the format had already changed with two sessions, on Tuesday (one hour and fifteen minutes) and Wednesday (45 minutes), instead of just one, longer, lasting two hours on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, around the table, the four left-wing groups – “rebels”, ecologists, socialists and communists – spoke out against what they initially consider as an additional platform granted to the tenant of Matignon. “My fear is that this will end up as a kind of Attal show,” points out the president of the Europe Ecologie-Les Verts group, Cyrielle Chatelain. That of the PS group, Boris Vallaud, refused to support this new format which deprives deputies of the last word.
More unexpectedly, the MoDem and Horizons also spoke out against this unprecedented exercise, inspired by the practice in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. For Jean-Paul Mattei, president of the MoDem group, it is part of a “very vertical vision” of power and “limits the ability of MPs to question ministers”yet more able to provide them with a precise answer. “Even if he is brilliant, Gabriel Attal will not be able to answer everything”observes the elected official from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
Doubts that are shared beyond the allies of the majority. “I am not sure that it is the role of the Prime Minister to answer the most technical questions”confides Marc Ferracci, vice-president of the Renaissance group. “The idea is for it to be a very political session. If MPs use it to ask extremely technical questions, it will be of no interest”agrees Sylvain Maillard, president of the Renaissance group.
Hypercentralization of government communication
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