As the presidential election is fast approaching, this time we are looking at the number of parliamentarians elected in France. Many readers are asking themselves the question of reducing it, in varying proportions, ranging from 20% to 50%.
What are we talking about ?
Should the number of deputies and senators who sit in the National Assembly and the Senate be reduced? Today, they are 577 and 348 respectively. This proposal was first formulated in 2017, when Emmanuel Macron was campaigning. He proposed to reduce their number “by about a third”. “Candidate Macron wanted a return of confidence in politics. Proposing to lower the number of parliamentarians was a way of responding to the feeling of some French people that the political class was living beyond its means, and that it would therefore be necessary to reduce its lifestyle, ”analyzes Bruno Cautrès, political scientist at Cevipof.
Once the president is elected, this campaign project materializes in the form of a bill on the reform of institutions, presented in April 2018. This ultimately provides for a 30% drop in the number of parliamentarians, and therefore increase to approximately 385 deputies and 232 senators.
Except that the examination of this constitutional text never succeeded and has remained on stand-by ever since. It was first the subject of heated debate in the Assembly, then shaken by the scandal of the Benalla affair, then came up against the opposition of the Senate, with a majority on the right. Then comes the Yellow Vests crisis, then the Covid-19 epidemic. “Very clearly, this text will no longer be discussed before the end of the five-year term, recognizes Prisca Thévenot, one of the spokespersons for the majority. The legislative agenda no longer allows it, in particular because of health-related texts, even if this subject still deserves to be debated. »
How much would it pay?
If this reform is acclaimed by the majority, it is above all because it would generate savings for the State. According to the liberal think tank Ifrap, a reduction in the number of parliamentarians by 30% would allow annual savings of some 90 million euros for the Assembly and 70 million for the Senate. The centrist senator Vincent Delahaye, who had tabled a bill in 2014 to lower the number of parliamentarians by 30%, had calculated for his part 300 million savings in total, but counting the fixed costs.
The National Assembly has already abolished certain advantages granted to deputies in order to save money, but its budget, which is around 500 million euros per year, continues to increase.
Has this already been tested?
The number of parliamentarians in France has never been reduced since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958. On the contrary, it has been increased several times. If there were only 482 deputies at the start (except between 1958 and 1962 when there were 579, including the deputies elected from overseas or from Algeria), their number was successively increased to reach 577 in 1986. The goal is then to comply with territorial reforms, “but also to respond to the demographic evolution of the country by allowing the French to have better representation by their elected officials”, explains Bruno Cautrès. This number of 577 was then enshrined in the Constitution in 2008 as a maximum.
Compared to our European neighbours, French MPs are less numerous than in Germany, the United Kingdom or Italy. Senators, on the other hand, are far more numerous in France than in Spain (266) or Germany (69).
What does the political class think?
The only political formation to have really voted for the lowering of the number of parliamentarians is La République en Marche (LREM). For Prisca Thévenot, “this would make it possible, in addition to saving money, to facilitate the daily work of elected officials by giving them more means, more budget and parliamentary teams. One can also imagine that this would make the debates in the Assembly or the Senate more fluid”. However, she recognizes a major drawback: “The demonstrations of yellow vests showed that there was a crisis of representativeness in the country. However, fewer elected officials also means larger constituencies and therefore fewer parliamentarians in the field. »
On the side of La France insoumise, there is no question of making savings on the exercise of democracy. “The majority’s approach is not the right one, it’s a demagogic and entrepreneurial vision of politics,” denounces MP Éric Coquerel. We do advocate institutional reform, but conversely, we want to give more power to parliamentarians to fight the parliamentary monarchy. “And to add:” I do not see how a parliamentarian could properly ensure his work in larger constituencies. A vision more or less shared by elected officials on the left and on the right, who see this reform as a form of anti-parliamentarianism.
Is it doable?
Technically, the drop in the number of deputies does not require revising the Constitution, since the figure of 577 is only entered there as a maximum. However, it would be necessary to go through an organic law, adopted by the two chambers of Parliament (National Assembly and Senate), and therefore to be able to count on a majority of votes. Because, if the National Assembly has the last word, the Senate retains the power to block the text.
If the reform is adopted, it will then be necessary to redistrict the constituencies to reduce their number. One more challenge: “It’s a perilous exercise, we must respect the principle of equality in the face of suffrage and redraw the constituencies according to the number of inhabitants. And as soon as a government touches on the perimeter of the constituencies, it is accused of preparing the ground for the next elections,” remarks Bruno Cautrès.
In summary
Reducing the number of parliamentarians would save tens of millions of euros and provide more resources for the remaining elected officials. But such a measure presents a risk of a disconnection with the inhabitants on the ground and requires a redrawing of the constituencies.