Some of the parliamentarians seem to have been on minimum duty since their return to the Palais-Bourbon in September. Forced to share their time between the hemicycle, committee work and their presence in the constituency in the event of another dissolution, the deputies are struggling.
A sparse hemicycle for the most important laws of the year. The benches of deputies have seemed relatively empty in recent days to examine the budget of the State and then of Social Security.
From the presence of elected officials in committee, rather than in the hemicycle, through the specter of a new dissolution and deputies who question the meaning of their mandate, the National Assembly is pervaded by an atmosphere of unease in recent weeks.
“There is a lot of tension and frustration. We cannot work in these conditions, we are doing the law very badly. It's really not good for the country”, regrets Horizons MP Vincent Thiébaut (Horizons) to BFMTV.com.
“A bad image of deputies”
If some have sharply reframed the elected officials, like the boss of Modem François Bayrou on Sunday October 27 describing their absence as “purely, simply unacceptable” and “criminal” on our antenna, the organization of parliamentary work does not always leave room for other choice.
In recent weeks, deputies have, for example, had to look at both the same time slots on the finance bill in the hemicycle and at the same time in committee on the Social Security budget.
“It's quite confusing, it requires running in the corridors going from one subject to another. And what's more, it gives a bad image of the deputies who are nevertheless working”, analyzes for her part the socialist deputy Dieynaba Diop .
“We throw our work out the window”
If the situation is not new, it has gained in complexity since 2022 with the relative majority before becoming almost inextricable since the last legislative elections.
In recent days, in a very fragmented Assembly, votes have often been decided by a few votes, as on the “exit tax”, adopted with only 4 votes in advance. The government was even disowned by its own troops on the overhaul of employer contributions or on apprenticeship aid during the session.
More broadly, more and more MPs are questioning their real influence while the specter of 49.3 hangs over the debates. In the event of activation of this article of the Constitution which allows a budget to be adopted without a vote, the government has complete freedom to choose the amendments it wants to keep.
“Concretely, that means that we have sat, worked for hours and that in the end, we throw our work out the window. I wonder in what other world would we accept that. We are among the madmen”, s annoys a Modem MP.
“The left is overmobilizing itself to obtain political victories even if it won't go far and we no longer have much desire when we think of 49.3”, sums up, abruptly, one of his Renaissance colleagues.
“What way do we have to say we’re not happy?”
To try to influence the budget, deputies from the common base increased their discussions with senators. It must be said that it is probably the upper house, largely on the right, which will have the most latitude to influence the budget.
If the debates drag on too long, article 47 allows the executive to transmit finance bills to the Senate, where the majority is acquired by the government, without the Assembly having any more say. .
“The government is counting on the Senate to force us to comply. We are in the process of damaging national representation. I find that quite serious,” regrets Renaissance deputy Guillaume Gouffier-Valente, a close friend of Élisabeth Borne.
“They don't trust us anymore. Afterwards, they blame us for no longer coming, but what way do we have to say that we're not happy? Barnier doesn't listen to anyone,” one of his colleagues.
“We are not going to get angry all the time” with the voters
Enough to push a good number of deputies, notably LR, to increase discussions with their counterparts at the Luxembourg Palace to push certain of their amendments, even if it means coming to the session less.
“We are very courted at the moment,” rejoices a Macronist senator. “Coming to see us also means hoping to rebalance a budget that MPs want to be able to defend in constituencies. And that, at the moment, is difficult.”
From the freezing of retirement pensions which should, however, spare the most modest, to the reduction in reimbursement for consultations with the general practitioner, the deputies of the common base are struggling to defend Michel Barnier's budget.
“When we didn't vote, we can easily tell our voters that we were against it, show them that we didn't take part in the vote. We're not going to get angry all the time when a new election can happen”, remarks an elected LR.
MEPs “obsessed” with “the markets”
This is because the specter of a new dissolution hangs in everyone's minds in the Assembly, further pushing the deputies to prefer to plow their territory. Many members of the government coalition won by a narrow margin, often helped by the withdrawal of left-wing candidates when a representative of the RN was in the second round.
“It pushes you to go to all the markets, the flea markets, the football matches, all the demonstrations. My MP who has always enjoyed doing 'natio' (national editor's note) has become obsessed with his territory,” laments a parliamentary collaborator .
“I assume not to enter the Lépine competition for the most present in the Assembly when we don't have much to do there and we can be more effective on the ground”, defends Karl Olive for his part ( Renaissance).
“Something we’re going to have a hard time getting out of”
Enough to add a little more fatigue for deputies who have the impression of being on a permanent campaign since Emmanuel Macron's last surprise legislative elections.
The pill is all the more difficult to swallow as the summer holidays are traditionally a saving break for elected officials who alternate the rest of the year between days in Paris, night sessions and quick trips to their constituency.
This year, no more long holidays, replaced by an express campaign then the wait for a new government.
“I decided this year to take time off during All Saints’ Day to spend time with my children. I couldn’t tell them that the next long moments together would not be before Christmas,” says an RN deputy.
Can the atmosphere really change once the budget sequence is completed at the end of November? Many doubt it in the hemicycle. “I have the impression that we have embarked on something from which we will have difficulty getting out,” sighs a Renaissance parliamentarian.
