The election of the President of the National Assembly, that’s done (pending the decision of the Constitutional Council on the probable appeal to the left). Place, as of today, for other announcements. It is not about elections, this time, but appointments, behind the scenes. The presidents of the eleven groups must agree on the distribution of the six vice-presidents, three quaestors and twelve secretaries. They form, with the President of the Assembly, the lower house officeThe Bureau is the highest collegiate authority of the Assembly and its highest executive body. Its twenty-two members are responsible for the organisation and internal functioning of the institution. In particular, it is the Bureau which submits the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of an elected official or possible sanctions against deputies.
Negotiations officially began at 10 a.m. this Friday. They promise to be just as tense as the re-election of Yaël Braun-Pivet (EPR) as President of the Assembly. With divergent visions that suggest strong tensions around the places left to the RN. If the appointments to the bureau take place “by striving to reproduce within the bureau the political configuration of the Assembly and to respect parity between women and men”, this point of the internal regulations is not necessarily binding. These twenty-one positions are not only functions of prestige, but also of influence. We explain why.
The six vice-presidents
There are six of them in total and they are responsible for replacing the president during sessions when the holder of the perch cannot do so. Each of them chairs a specific delegation (international activities, transparency and interest representatives, communication and press, application of the status of the deputy, study groups, artistic and cultural heritage). Under the previous legislature, five women and one man shared these different positions. Two vice-presidents were from the RN, the others being a socialist, a Modem, a Horizons, a France insoumise.
Their monthly allowance: 1,099.79 euros gross (in addition to the basic allowances of a deputy, i.e. 7,637.39 euros gross without including benefits in kind).
The three quaestors
They are in charge of financial and administrative services. No new expenditure may be incurred without their prior notice. The services for which they are responsible may therefore not directly incur any expenditure. In practice, they have financial and budgetary powers (in particular, they establish and implement the budget of the Assembly), exercise administrative power to manage the personnel and departments of the National Assembly, are responsible for the material conditions for exercising the mandate of deputy and conduct contentious procedures. Two of them belong to the majoritythe third in opposition.
Their monthly allowance: 5,300.36 euros gross (in addition to the basic allowances and benefits of a deputy).
The Twelve Secretaries
The secretaries of the Bureau supervise the voting operations and the counting of certain ballots: ordinary public ballots by ballot, public ballots at the rostrum or in rooms adjoining the meeting room, secret ballots for personal appointments.
Their monthly allowance: 733.19 euros gross (in addition to the basic allowances and benefits of a deputy).
To be continued, Saturday, the commissions
Once the twenty-two members of the office have been elected, it will be a question of distributing, on Saturday, the positions of president and member of the eight standing committees. Cultural affairs and education, economic affairs, foreign affairs, social affairs, national defense and armed forces, sustainable development and regional planning, finance, general economy and budgetary control, constitutional laws, legislation and general administration of the Republic. Each deputy can be a member of only one standing committee.
Everything you need to know about the National Assembly
The members of the standing committees are appointed on the basis of proportional representation of the political groups and on the proposal of the chairmen of these groups. The Finance Committee may only elect as its chair a member belonging to an opposition group.
The monthly allowance of a committee chairman: 931.76 euros gross (in addition to the basic allowances and benefits of an MP).