Never two without three! The National Assembly is faithful to the saying. The group of deputies from the far-right party, which controls the agenda of the National Assembly this Thursday, October 30, for the third time since 2023, follows the same logic as previous times.
That of presenting texts a priori agreed upon or supported by other groups, including certain topics dear to the RN. A way to pressure their opponents to vote in favor of these legislative proposals. Otherwise, the latter will have difficulties justifying their positions.
“Whatever the outcome, politically it is quite beneficial for us,” rejoices a close friend of Marine Le Pen. “If they do not vote, we will say that they are sectarians, that they do not defend the general interest, unlike us. On the contrary, if the texts are voted on, much better, because they are measures proposed by the National Group.”
He himself concludes: “We are between two good positions and they are between two bad ones. We are very comfortable with the result.”
Blinds for the right, as for the left.
At the opening of the debates, at 9 a.m., the Lepenist deputies presented a motion for a resolution aimed at denouncing the 1968 agreements between France and Algeria, which created a single status for Algerian nationals in terms of movement, residence and employment.
The RN calls for the end of this text widely discussed in recent months in the context of the Franco-Algerian crisis. He is not the only one. Also his ally the UDR, as well as the Les Républicains party and Horizons, the political party of Édouard Philippe, unlike Emmanuel Macron, who has always closed the door to such a scenario.
On paper, the sum of these parliamentary groups is still insufficient to approve the text, rejected in committee, but the majority threshold will depend on the number of deputies mobilized in the session.
In any case, the registered nurse has other threads at her disposal. After the proposed resolution, the value of which is not binding, they will present a text to reinstate the crime of illegal stay, a new nod to the right.
The measure was reintroduced into the 2023 immigration law and then revoked by the Constitutional Council, when the Wise Men considered that it did not present a sufficient link with the text. Rejected in committee, the RN bill nevertheless gained the support of LR and Horizons.
In addition to the right, the RN also wants to try its luck with the left. They will defend a bill to limit “unfair” banking fees, which takes up a communist text, and a bill aimed at guaranteeing the presence of free parking in public hospitals, in line with a similar initiative by La France insoumise.
No victory so far
It remains to be determined whether this strategy will ultimately allow the far right to achieve a victory in the Assembly. Because, until now, the maneuver has never worked.
Already in 2023, the flame party tries unsuccessfully to reach a consensus by proposing to recognize endometriosis as a “long-term disease” (ALD), in line with a proposed resolution adopted at the initiative of former rebel Clémentine Autain. The deputy then denounces “a smokescreen to try to confuse the ideological position of the RN.”
Another example in 2024. That year, the RN presented a bill to repeal the pension reform. Another failure, although the majority of deputies are in favor of this measure. The left refuses to support the extreme right, accused of “social fraud.”
Often in these debates, RN is accused of opportunism by his opponents. Last week, during the committee’s examination of the text aimed at limiting banking fees, PS MP Sophie Pantel denounced “parliamentary piracy” and “hypocrisy”. At issue: the fact that the RN “tries to make believe that it defends the middle and working classes” when it voted “against”, according to it, the tax measures for the ultra-rich in the Finance Committee.
Furthermore, lepenistas are sometimes criticized for proposing ineffective texts. This is the case of his bill aimed at facilitating the allocation of social benefits to people with disabilities, when they have an “irreversible disability.” This text, also on the agenda, aims to prevent them from having to renew the aid requests that concern them.
But it does not “create any new right,” objected in committee the Renaissance MP Christine Le Nabour, specifying that this “problem” is more “practical” than “legal.” An argument also taken up by the left.
Two texts adopted in committee, a reason for hope for the RN?
In summary, all the texts cited so far have been rejected in committee, except for the proposed resolution on the agreements between France and Algeria, which will be examined directly in the chamber. However, two other bills were passed, the first and perhaps a reason for hope for RN.
One of them aims to systematically inform the consumer about the origin of food products through labeling (a measure that could not be applied, since it is the exclusive competence of the European Union, editor’s note); the other aims to “protect the school of the Republic and the personnel who work in it”, taking up a UDI text adopted by the Senate after the unanimous vote of all political groups in the Luxembourg Palace.
Will they be approved again in the chamber? “On paper, I want to say that in each text there could be a majority, so it is a question of sectarianism and courage. For (the other parliamentarians), it is a mountain to vote for a text called National Rally,” estimates the close friend of Marine Le Pen already quoted.
Beyond the decisions of the different deputies, the result will also depend on the clock. Because the public session will end at midnight. If the text on labeling occupies third place on the agenda, the one on education occupies the seventh and last place on the list and, therefore, has little chance of being debated.
Source: BFM TV
