File n° 23 

I. – the PRINCIPLE :
the Government controls the priority agenda

In accordance with article 20 of the Constitution, the Government “shall determine and conduct the policy of the Nation”. As this policy is notably represented by the drawing-up of legal norms in the shape of bills, it therefore follows that the Government must be able to submit such bills to the assemblies at the time it judges desirable, according to the calendar of adoption of its legislative programme. This thus explains the terms of article 48, paragraph 1, of the Constitution: “precedence shall be given on the agendas of the assemblies, and in the order determined by the Government, to the discussion of Government bills and of Members' bills accepted by the Government”.

According to the Constitution, the Government thus has the ability to decide on the Government and Members’ bills it wishes to see on the agenda and to set the order in which they will be examined. Neither the National Assembly nor the Conference of Presidents has any say on this list of texts or on their order.

Having the right to set the priority agenda, the Government is also free to change it. A simple letter addressed to the President of the National Assembly or even, in rarer cases, a simple statement made in plenary sitting by a member of the Government, is all that is needed to modify the order of the texts on the agenda, to withdraw a bill or even, in exceptional circumstances, to table a bill that was not planned. Such modifications are more frequent at the end of a session, as the planning is rendered more difficult on account of the high number of bills in transit between the two Houses and because of the need to coordinate the work of the National Assembly with that of the Senate.

II. – exceptions to the principle

1. – Limitations linked to the application of rules of procedure

According to article 46, paragraph 2 of the Constitution, a period of fifteen days must elapse between the introduction of an Institutional Bill and its debate in the assembly where it was introduced.

The discussion of censure motions (articles 49, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Constitution) must take place, at the latest, the third day of sitting following the end of the constitutional limit of forty-eight hours after the tabling of the motion. This date is set by the Conference of Presidents. “The closing of the ordinary session or the extraordinary sessions is, by right, postponed, in order to allow, if need be, the application of article 49”. For the same reasons, additional sittings are of right.

2. – Questions to the Government

Article 48, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, states that: “At one sitting a week, at least, precedence shall be given to questions from Members of Parliament and to answers by the Government”.

Question time takes place three times a week at the National Assembly: the first hour of two weekly sittings (Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons) are given over to questions on current affairs to the Government and the entire sitting on Tuesday morning is given over to oral questions without debate.

3. – The reserved agenda

Article 48, paragraph 3, of the Constitution, states that: “At one sitting a month precedence shall be given to the agenda determined by each assembly”.

Introduced by the Constitutional Law of August 4, 1995, this paragraph allows each assembly to have, once a month, a sitting reserved for an agenda, freely chosen by itself and which may be made up of bills, questions, motions or debates.

It is the duty of the Conference of Presidents to determine, once a month, the date of such sittings. The requests for inclusion on the agenda are put forward, in principle, during the Conference of Presidents, by the chairman of the relevant committee or by a political group chairman. In practice, since the introduction of such sittings, in October 1995, the Conference of Presidents has decided to reserve their use solely for the political groups.

On the one hand, this decision has led to the distribution of such sittings between the political groups (first of all over the length of a Parliament and, since October 1997, over the length of a session). This distribution is carried out by taking into account the numerical size of each group. Each group is thus ensured of being granted at least one such sitting per session.

On the other hand, each group is free to propose the agenda for the sittings it is granted. Thus the agenda of such sittings is not submitted to the vote of the Assembly. It would be very difficult to have the governing majority approve of certain agendas put forward on the opposition’s initiative.

In addition, since January 1998, the Conference of Presidents has decided, in agreement with the Government, to allow the agenda of each sitting to be continued during one other sitting. This decision allows the National Assembly to have 18 sittings per session whose agenda is set on the initiative of the political groups[1].

So that this constitutional reform could produce its full effect, the Presidents of the Senate and of the National Assembly mutually committed themselves to guaranteeing that their assembly would examine the Members’ bills adopted by the other chamber and that the “shuttle” would not be interrupted.

This procedure has been very successful as it has contributed to the rebirth of the notion of parliamentary initiative.

Above and beyond the reserved agenda, the National Assembly has the possibility of including texts and debates on the agenda in addition to the agenda set by the Government, if there is enough available time. In practice, this provision has not been applied for many years on account, precisely, of the lack of time available.

III. – the Conference of Presidents

The Conference of Presidents is the competent body as regards the preparation of the organization of the work of the National Assembly in plenary sitting. It is convened by the President of the National Assembly once a week, usually on a Tuesday morning.

1. –  Make-up

The Conference of Presidents is made up, apart from the President, of six vice-presidents, the six chairmen of the standing committees (and the chairmen of the ad hoc committees if such committees have been set up for the examination of a bill), the General Rapporteur of the Finance Committee, the chairmen of the political groups and the chairman of the committee in charge of European affairs.

The Government is represented by one of its members, usually the Minister in Charge of Relations with the Parliament. This person transmits to the Conference of Presidents the plans of the Government for the present week and for the following two weeks.

2. –  Role

On account of the constitutional priority which is granted to the Government, the Conference of Presidents has not to rule on the programme of work with which it is presented and which constitutes “the priority agenda”. However, these meetings are an opportunity for an exchange of views and can lead the Government to make changes. They are also the opportunity to decide on the general discussion of the texts or the debates included on the agenda. They thus set and distribute the speaking time which will be allotted to the speakers.

The Conference of Presidents also decides, over the length of a session, on the calendar of the monthly sittings which are reserved, by priority, for an agenda set by the National Assembly and determines the distribution of these sittings between the various political groups. It also organizes the discussion of the texts or the debates whose inclusion on the agenda is requested by the chairmen of the political groups. The Rules of Procedure also consider the following within the remit of the Conference of Presidents:

―    Organizing the weekly sittings of oral questions, whether it be the oral questions without debate sitting or the two sittings of questions to the Government;

―    Drawing up the conditions and the length of the discussion on the annual finance bill. This deals both with the first part of this discussion and with the second part when the budgetary fascicules are examined. The Conference of Presidents, in particular, sets the list of and the dates for, the meetings of the enlarged committees which carry out the examination of certain of the missions of the second part of the year’s finance bill;

―    Deciding that there will be a “solemn vote” by public ballot, on the entire text of important bills and setting the dates of such votes in advance;

―    Setting the day for the examination of censure motions and organizing their discussion.

In addition, the Conference of Presidents is informed by the Government of its indicative plans in the medium term. Thus, the Minister in Charge of Relations with the Parliament transmits to the Conference of Presidents, at the opening of the session at the beginning of October and, then, at the latest, on the following March 1, the matters which the Government plans to see included on the agenda of the National Assembly and the period envisaged for their discussion.