Let’s go for the National Assembly this June 28! With a (very) renewed hemicycle – 301 new deputies out of 577 -, a heterogeneous presidential coalition handicapped by a lack of 44 elected members to achieve an absolute majority, radical groups in force – a National Rally that goes from 8 to 89 seats and the Insoumis, from 17 to 72 -, an LR right in a pivotal position, the inauguration of the 16th legislature promises to be electric. So as not to get lost in the maze of the Palais-Bourbon, here is a little vade-mecum.

Elected for five years to represent their constituency, the deputies are divided between the latter, where they receive proposals from citizens, and the Paris hemicycle, to propose, discuss and vote on laws. To do this, they do not have a salary, but an allowance – since they generally give up their job for five years – of 7,240 euros gross, to which may be added any transport or housing, recruitment of collaborators, and sometimes a “credit for telephone and computer equipment”. It should be noted that an ethics officer deals specifically with the control of the expenses of mandates in the National Assembly; since the Fillon affair, for example, it is forbidden to hire a relative as a collaborator.

He is the first member of the office to be elected: the National Assembly itself calls him “the fourth personage of the State”. This place is temporarily ensured – pending the election of the incumbent – by the Dean of the Assembly, José Gonzalez (RN), 79, who inaugurates the new legislature on June 28; the entire office is appointed the following day at the same time. The role of the President of the National Assembly is to ensure the proper conduct of debates, but also to represent the Assembly (for example abroad); it is also he or she who chairs the Congress, that is to say the meeting of the National Assembly and the Senate. Finally, it is he or she whom the President of the Republic consults before using some of his powers, such as dissolution. In addition to the allowance of 7,240 euros for all deputies, the President of the National Assembly receives one of 7,299 euros for his mandate, which is renewable: we can think of Jacques Chaban-Delmas, who held the post for over fifteen years!

They are elected from representatives that each group chooses, each vice-president heads one of the six delegations necessary for the preparation of a law; we can cite, for example, the delegation to the application of the role of deputy or even that to the examination of the admissibility of legislative proposals. In view of this preliminary work involved in the office of vice-president, they see their compensation of 7,240 euros added to a second of just over 1,000 euros.

These are the three deputies responsible for the administrative and financial management of the National Assembly. They meet every week to work out a budget, approve or not a new expenditure… One must be from the opposition while the other two are from the majority. This crucial role of manager gives them a debt, in addition to their allowance as a deputy, to just over 5,000 euros per month.

Each committee encompasses subjects covered by laws such as foreign affairs, national defense and the armed forces or “finance, general economy and budgetary control”. This last commission has a role that is all the more essential as it deals with verifying the state budget and its use. In view of this last role, the chairman of the finance committee must be held by an opposition deputy: hence the battle between the various opposition forces around this chairmanship and the responsibilities it entails. Each committee chairman receives, in addition to the allowance of 7,240 euros, a specific amount of 883 euros.

This week of elections and appointments within the Assembly is therefore to be followed closely to understand the future physiognomy of the legislature. Behind the scenes, the battles are bitter for the presidency of the Assembly and that of the Finance Committee. The first is promised for the moment to the candidate of the presidential majority Yaël Braun-Pivet, who would be the first woman to take up the post, and the second whets the appetites of the RN, the first opposition party, and of a divided Nupes . Suffice to say that the coming hours will be stormy.