the Horizons group denounces “obstruction” from the left after a lack of vote

The debates promised to be heated; they were. A divisive bill calling into question the ban on multiple mandates, which seemed poised to be adopted on the evening of Thursday March 14 in the National Assembly, was ultimately unable to be voted on, lack of sufficient time. The Horizons group, which had included this text on the menu of its day reserved in the Hemicycle, denounced a “obstruction” from the left, after it slowed down the debates until midnight, with subamendments, points of order and other requests to suspend the session.

THE “parliamentary niches” dedicated to a group necessarily stopping at midnight, without the possibility of continuing another day, the examination of the bill cannot resume. “We’ll come back!” »promised Horizons MP Naïma Moutchou.

The text aimed to “to soften” a 2014 law, adopted under François Hollande and applied since 2017, which prohibits being both a national parliamentarian and holder of a local executive mandate. With the objective of renewing elected officials and feminizing Parliament, but also of guaranteeing that elected officials devote themselves fully to their mandates.

The presidential camp divided

The text of the deputies of the party of Edouard Philippe, allies of the macronists of Renaissance and the Modem group within the presidential majority, proposed to only 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. Their proposal would undoubtedly have been adopted at first reading in the event of a final vote. A vote on its main article was thus won with 64 votes to 44.

Supported by the right and the far right, and fiercely opposed by the left, it was divisive within the presidential camp. But in a sparse Hemicycle in night session, the Renaissance deputies favorable to the initiative were over-represented, according to an executive from the group.

“A balance has been disrupted within our Republic”argued the Horizons deputy Henri Alfandari, who carried this text, judging that Parliament should benefit “figures firmly anchored in a territory” For “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 nourish “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”on the other hand estimated Ludovic Mendes (Renaissance), whose group had granted freedom of vote to its members.

“False solution”

During a meeting during the week, a majority of Macronist deputies positioned themselves against a return to the accumulation of mandates. But some were in favor of it, like MP Karl Olive, who even defended amendments on Thursday lifting the ban on accumulation, including for mayors, like the Les Républicains (LR) MPs.

“Never has our country gone through so many storms caused by the absence of field sensors”, argued MP LR Pierre-Henri Dumont. For Bruno Bilde, of the National Rally (RN), due to the lack of local roots of the deputies, “it’s the administration that takes the place left vacant”.

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 anything other than their mandate as parliamentarians”argued communist MP Elsa Faucillon. “You are disconnected”launched the deputy La France insoumise Carlos Martens Bilongo to the Horizons deputies, while the ecologist Charles Fournier criticized them for feeding “a sort of nostalgia for local baronies”.

Erwan Balanant (Modem) also challenged the “false solution” of the return to accumulation, recalling moreover “that 50% of us are local elected officials”without executive mandate.

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 ” Aboveground “ after the “yellow vest” crisis.