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For decades, French politics has been dominated by quasi-monarchical presidents from the Élysée Palace, from Charles de Gaulle to François Mitterrand and today’s Emmanuel Macron, but another older institution has now unexpectedly taken center stage: the National Assembly.
The parliament, which dates back to the French Revolution of 1789, is likely to be the playing field for French politics in the coming months, as President Macron must turn to feuding lawmakers at the Palais Bourbon on the Left Bank of the Seine to win support for his economic reforms and ambitious European integration plans.
Parliament has been thrust back into the spotlight by inconclusive elections called by Mr Macron in June in which none of the three main groups vying to form a government — a left-wing coalition called the New Popular Front (NFP), Mr Macron’s centrists or Marine Le Pen’s far-right party — won a majority.
“Somewhat surprisingly, the legitimacy of the National Assembly has been restored,” said historian and publisher Olivier Betournet, “after decades of no national assembly culture in France.”
Betournet said Macron would have a tough decision to make because he was used to the “sole exercise of power” under the Fifth Republic, established by de Gaulle in 1958, which tilted power towards the president after the Fourth Republic’s contentious parliament and unstable governments.
Meanwhile, the French left, divided into various factions ranging from the far-left of former Trotskyist Jean-Luc Mélenchon to moderate socialists, is coming into its own in the fierce battles in the Chamber of Deputies. The political terms “left” and “right” were coined because revolutionaries flocked to the left and conservatives to the right. Ancient Régime on the right.
The left’s plan is “to revitalize the National Assembly and restore its independence,” Cyriel Chatelain, head of the Green party in parliament, told France Info radio. “The National Assembly will once again become the beating heart of the republic, its seat of political leadership.”
Last week, France announced that its 577 elected membersLiberté, Equality, FraternitéElect the head of the council.”
Coincidentally, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Assembly party, despite winning the most popular votes, came in third in terms of seats and provided both the acting speaker of parliament for the day (the oldest, 81-year-old José González) and the poll monitor (the youngest, 22-year-old Flavian Terme).
In his opening speech, Gonzalez alluded to his nationalist loyalties and tearfully recalled his origins in what was then French Algeria, irritating the left, many of whom gave Termet the cold shoulder by refusing to join other lawmakers in shaking his hand after the vote.
By the end of the day, Macron’s supporters had engineered the re-election of his centrist candidate, Yaël Braun-Pivet, as speaker of parliament. Le Pen’s expulsion of her party was completed the next day when it failed to win any seats. Le Pen said this was a flagrant violation of rules and conventions, given that the RN is the largest single party in parliament.
“Everything is decided at the Elysée Palace,” said Jean-Philippe Tanguy, one of Le Pen’s top aides. “That’s Macron’s plan: to turn the National Assembly into a black hole from which no light can come out.”
But neither Macron’s allies nor his foes are convinced such a plan would work. Although the French president appoints the prime minister, he can do little without the support of parliamentarians, and to secure a majority in the current parliament, Macron would need support not only from the center but also from the Socialist and center-right parties.
Meanwhile, turnout in the second round of President Macron’s surprise parliamentary elections was about 67 percent, the highest in 27 years, underscoring once again the importance of the National Assembly to French politics.
Like many other commentators and politicians, Betourne says it’s time to formally strengthen Parliament’s role. “I don’t know if that means a Sixth Republic, but we need to rebalance executive and legislative power,” he said. “The government has the upper hand in the legislative process.”
