Renewed last June, the hemicycle is the scene of heated exchanges. Several sequences have already marked the spirits, six months after the arrival of the deputies at the Palais Bourbon.
Invectives, polemics, fiery debates… Difficult to get bored with the new composition of the National Assembly. And for good reason: the June legislative elections brought their share of surprises between the entry in force of the deputies of the National Rally and the failure of the presidential camp to obtain an absolute majority.
Six months after the start of the 16th legislature, BFMTV.com looks back on ten key sequences.
• June 28. The dean of the Assembly evokes his nostalgia for French Algeria
First day and already a controversy. As dean of the National Assembly, José Gonzalez, 79, opens the first session of the 16th legislature on June 28, as tradition dictates. From the perch, the deputy of the National Rally (RN) evokes his attachment to French Algeria, describing himself as “the child of a France from elsewhere, torn from his native land and sent to the coasts of Provence in 1962 “.
“I am a man who has seen his bruised soul forever,” said the native of Oran.
Taken by emotion, this close friend of Jean-Marie Le Pen stops. Applause resounds in the hemicycle. On the benches of the majority and the left, these declarations cause an outcry. “The de-demonization of the RN ended from the first session”, asserts the ecologist deputy Sandrine Rousseau at the exit of the hemicycle. For his part, José Gonzalez gives a layer: the pied-noir ensures “not to know” if the OAS committed crimes during the Algerian war.
• 26 July. LFI deputies arrive with ties
A strong image. On July 26, several elected officials from La France insoumise, including Mathilde Panot and Clémentine Autain, entered the Palais Bourbon wearing ties. A response to Éric Ciotti who calls for the compulsory wearing of this garment in the hemicycle, observing a “loosening of clothing” since the start of the new legislature.
With this happening, the parliamentarians of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party wish to denounce the “sexism” and the “class contempt” that the compulsory wearing of this accessory would induce. At the beginning of November, the office of the National Assembly decides: the jacket becomes compulsory while the tie, which has not been since 2017, is recommended.
• 4 October. The feminist gesture of Sandrine Rousseau
For the first questions to the government since the summer holidays, the hemicycle is particularly agitated. Aurore Bergé, patroness of the deputies of the majority, implicitly attacks the rebellious on their management of the Adrien Quatennens case, who admitted a slap to his wife a few days earlier.
The elected representative of Yvelines evokes in particular “those who speak of their ‘affection’ for a man who hits his wife”, in an allusion to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had praised the “courage” and the “dignity” of the deputy from the North . In response to these remarks, Sandrine Rousseau gets up from her seat and makes the sign of an inverted uterus, a feminist symbol.
The ecologist deputy did not appreciate Aurore Bergé’s question on domestic violence, while Damien Abad still sits at the Palais-Bourbon as a deputy attached to the Renaissance group. The short-lived Minister of Solidarity is targeted by four charges of rape and attempted rape.
• October 18. The anger of Éric Dupond-Moretti after the murder of Lola
In mid-October, after the murder of young Lola in Paris, the far right and part of the right denounce the “laxity” of the government’s “immigration policy”, even though the main suspect in this case was subject to an obligation to leave the territory (OQTF).
During questions to the government on October 18, the deputy LR Éric Pauget rebukes the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti, judging the latter’s ministry “responsible for this tragedy”.
Booed by part of the hemicycle, the Keeper of the Seals replies and accuses his opponents of “playing petty politics, petty poloche”. “To use the coffin of a twelve-year-old girl as one uses a step, it’s a shame, sir,” asserts the former lawyer, applauded by the left. Then, Éric Dupond-Moretti turns to the benches of the far right and declares:
“And I think the best is yet to come, because you are still at the rendezvous of the misfortune that you have been making your honey for years”.
• October 26. A Member of Parliament reads his speech in Braille
In the hemicycle, José Beaurain made a remarkable intervention at the end of October. He reads his text in Braille. The far-right elected official became the first blind deputy to enter the Palais Bourbon last June. He has congenital glaucoma which caused him to lose his sight in 2008.
José Beaurain devotes his remarks to shared living assistance (AVP), set up in 2021 to “support the development of housing for the elderly and people with disabilities”.
• October 26. Caroline Fiat’s tears
In tears in the hemicycle. Still at the end of October, Caroline Fiat cannot hold back her emotion after the adoption of her amendmentestablishing “a minimum ratio of supervision of residents by nursing staff”, during the examination at first reading of the social security financing bill (PLFSS).
“I am very moved by this victory”, reacts in the wake of the rebellious deputy, known for having been the first caregiver elected to the National Assembly in 2017.
• 3 November. “Let him return to Africa”
The sequence caused a lively controversy. During questions to the government on November 3, LFI deputy Carlos Martens Bilongo challenges the executive on migrants in the Mediterranean. The parliamentarian is interrupted by his counterpart from the National Rally, Grégoire de Fournas.
“Let him return to Africa”, launches the far-right elected official, according to the version retained in the report of the National Assembly.
These remarks trigger an outcry on the benches of the left and the majority. “Outside”, launch several deputies of the two camps. A suspension of the session is pronounced. Grégoire de Fournas ensures for his part that he spoke in the plural, thus evoking the “boat and its migrants”, and not his colleague Carlos Martens Bilonguo.
He finally received the heaviest sanction provided by the office of the National Assembly: he is excluded from the next 15 sitting days and is deprived of half of his parliamentary allowance for two months.
• 24 November. The left and the majority vote together on abortion
LFI and Renaissance hand in hand. On November 24, the deputies of the left and of the presidential camp jointly voted on a bill of insubordination aiming to include the right to abortion in the Constitution. A first for Emmanuel Macron’s camp. Which had judged the rebellious on the “side of disorder and cynicism”, while its Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, had excluded them from the “republican arc” on which she intended to build majorities.
On abortion, the two formations had previously engaged in a speed race, each group wishing to put a similar text on the agenda. It is therefore difficult not to vote for the text of LFI. After this rare moment of consensus between the left and the majority, a standing ovation resounded in the hemicycle.
• 24 November. “You’re going to shut it up”
Same day, different atmosphere. During this session reserved for the examination of LFI bills, the majority plays parliamentary obstruction when a text on the reintegration of non-vaccinated caregivers is debated. In return, Olivier Serva accuses Emmanuel Macron’s camp of “obstructive pettiness” consisting in preventing the text from coming to an end.
The deputy Freedom, Independents, Overseas and territories (Liot), had left the macronist group during the previous mandate, after having unsuccessfully demanded the return of non-vaccinated hospital caregivers. Interrupted several times during his speech, he ended up getting angry and launched a “you’re going to shut up” to Renaissance deputy Sylvain Maillard.
On BFMTV, the elected representative of Guadeloupe then defended himself by speaking of “a language reflex”.
• December 11. The laughter of Elisabeth Borne during her ninth 49.3
On December 11, in order to adopt the budget without a vote of the deputies, Elisabeth Borne draws 49.3 for the ninth time in a few weeks. “Why are you so afraid of the debate?” Launches the Prime Minister to the opposition even though she has just interrupted the exchanges on this text by using the cleaver article.
Surprised to say the least by this question, the opposition deputies sneered and stood up, clapping ironically. Élisabeth Borne is then taken with a fit of laughter for a few seconds. The sequence gives grain to grind to his opponents.
“It’s an unnamed shame”, criticizes for example the deputy of the RN Jean-Philippe Tanguy, considering that the head of Matignon “openly mocks the National Assembly”.
