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Offices
and delegations
These bodies have developed within Parliament since the past twenty years or so, by a kind of spontaneous adaptation to unsatisfied needs. As a rule they are information bodies and not committees with legislative powers, although their investigative powers are tending to draw closer to those of the committees. Some are shared by both assemblies, such as the Parliamentary Office for Scientific and Technological Assessment (Act of 8 July 1983), the Parliamentary Office for Legislation Assessment (Act of 14 June 1996) and the Office for the Assessment of Public Health Policies (Social Security Finance Act for 2003). Other bodies exist symmetrically at the National Assembly and at the Senate : this is the case with the Delegation for the European Union which participates in reviewing drafts of instruments of the European Communities within the framework of Article 88-4 of the Constitution; this is also the case with the more recently created delegations. Delegations or Offices are created, not by an institutional Act or by the Rules of Procedure of the assemblies, but by an ordinary Act, which completes in this respect the ordinance of 17 November 1958 on the functioning of the parliamentary assemblies. In some cases, this new type of bodies lead in fact if not in law to bending somewhat the strictness of the Constitution which limits to six the number of standing committees.
Act no. 79-564 of 6 July 1979 created in each assembly a delegation for the European Communities. Two subsequent Acts (nos 90-385 of 10 May 1990 and 94-476 of 10 June 1994) and two constitutional amendments (of 25 June 1992 and 25 January 1999) progressively transformed a mere information body, most often providing a posteriori information on Community affairs, into a sort of seventh standing committee. It is the Government’s institutional interlocutor regarding draft instruments under negotiation within the European Union.
At the National Assembly, as at the Senate, the law sets at thirty-six the number of Delegation members. These are appointed by each of the assemblies so as to ensure ‘proportional representation of the political groups and balanced representation of the standing committees’. The National Assembly delegation is elected at the beginning of the term and for its length. In both assemblies, the Bureau is composed of a Chairman, four Vice-Chairmen and two secretaries. The two Delegations can hold joint meetings.
The role and operation of the Delegations were deeply modified by the constitutional Act of 25 June 1992 prior to ratification of the Treaty of Maastricht and by that of 25 January 1999 prior to ratification of the Treaty of Amsterdam. These amendments have allowed a certain parliamentary scrutiny of Community legal rules, pursuant to the new Article 88-4 of the Constitution which sets forth: ‘The Government shall lay before the National Assembly and the Senate any drafts of or proposals for instruments of the European Communities or the European Union containing provisions which are matters for statute as soon as they have been transmitted to the Council of the European Union. It may also lay before them other drafts of or proposals for instruments or any document issuing from a European Union institution. In the manner laid down by the Rules of Procedure of each assembly, resolutions may be passed, even if Parliament is not in session, on the drafts, proposals or documents referred to in the preceding paragraph.’
Resolutions aimed at giving the Government the opinion of the assemblies before Community instruments are adopted by the Council of the Communities are deliberations which are not legally binding. Their adoption procedure is as follows: - Proposals for Community instruments as well as other European Union instruments which are to be submitted to Parliament are tabled by the Government with the Bureau of each of the assemblies. - They are considered by the Delegation which adopts for some of them conclusions taking the form of a motion for a resolution tabled by a rapporteur on behalf of the Delegation. Any deputy also has the possibility of himself tabling a motion for a resolution. - Proposals for resolutions are committed to a standing committee for consideration. - If the Government or the Chairman of a group so asks, or it is a matter of a motion for a resolution moved on behalf of the Delegation, the committee must table its report on the motion for a resolution within one month of the motion being referred to it. - Within eight days following the distribution of the committee report on the motion for a resolution which itself concludes by a motion for a resolution, the latter can be set down on the agenda of the Assembly on request by the chairman of a group, the chairman of a committee, or by the Government. The resolution adopted by the Assembly is transmitted to the Government. - If no request for inclusion on the agenda is presented, the text adopted by the committee responsible is considered as final and transmitted to the Government. - In all cases, resolutions adopted by the Assembly are published in the Official Gazette (édition Lois et décrets).
The Delegation’s initial task has therefore been coupled with a new role: giving Parliament’s opinion on Community legislation before it is adopted in Brussels. The role of systematically examining proposals for Community instruments submitted by the Government to the National Assembly is enshrined in the so-called ‘parliamentary scrutiny reserve procedure’. The Government has given the commitment to ensure that the European Union Council of Ministers does not deliberate on drafts of or proposals for Community instruments before — when their consideration is desired — they have been so considered at the assemblies in one manner or another. Resolutions adopted pursuant to Article 88-4 aim to enlighten governmental action by expressing the position of the assemblies on drafts of or proposals for Community instruments in the elaboration and adoption of which ministers participate.
This body was created by Act no. 83-609 of 8 July 1983. Its role is ‘to inform Parliament of the consequences of choices of a scientific and technological nature so that it can in particular make informed decisions.’ In this respect, ‘the Office gathers information, implements study programmes and makes assessments.’ The Office meets a need for information in the scientific field, which has been expressed for a long time by parliamentarians. It belongs to the ‘Delegations’ family. As a body shared by the National Assembly and the Senate, it is staffed by eight incumbent deputies and eight incumbent senators, each having their alternate. This number was raised to eighteen deputies and eighteen senators in 2002 (Act no 2000-121 of 16 February 2000). The chair is held alternately by a deputy and a senator. Only parliamentarians can refer matters to the Office in various manners (Bureau, group chairman, sixty deputies or forty senators). The Office calls on a Scientific Board made up of fifteen personalities (twenty-four in 2002). On proposal by this Board, experts can provide it with their aid. The rapporteurs appointed by the Office have identical investigative powers to those of budget rapporteurs. In less than twenty years of existence, the Parliamentary Office for Scientific and Technological Assessment has published fifty or so reports, making it an interlocutor recognised by the scientific community. It has ensured relative autonomy for Parliament in a field where it was hitherto totally dependent on information issuing from the Government. The main topics addressed, often dealt with in greater depth in successive reports, have been energy, the environment, new technologies, life sciences… An office shared by the two assemblies has recently been created in each assembly as well as two Delegations with a specialised aim. - The Parliamentary Office for the Assessment of Health Policies was created by the Social Security Finance Act for 2003 no. 2002-1487 of 20 December 2002 (Article 2) to inform Parliament of the consequences of public health choices and enlighten its decisions. For this purpose, it gathers information, implements study programmes and carries out assessment in order to contribute to the follow-up to Social Security Finance Acts. It is made up of the Chairmen of the National Assembly and Senate Social Affairs Committees, as well as of the rapporteurs of these committees tasked with health insurance within the framework of Social Security Finance Acts, and of ten deputies and ten senators. [see composition of the office] It is assisted by a board of experts made up of six personalities chosen on account of their competence in the public health field and it can also ask, for their opinion, health professionals, trade union and professional organisations and associations intervening in the health field. Matters are referred to it by the Bureau of one or the other of the assemblies, either on its initiative, or on request by a group chairman, or on request by sixty deputies or forty senators or else by a special or standing committee. - The Delegation for Women’s Rights and Equal Chances between men and women, tasked with informing the Assembly about government policy in respect of its consequences on women’s rights and equal chances between men and women (Act no 99-585 of 12 July 1999). This Delegation can present recommendations on legislative instruments set down on the agenda and appoint a representative to intervene in public sitting on its behalf.
- The Delegation for
Spatial Planning and Sustainable Territorial Development, tasked with
assessing spatial planning and territorial development policies and
informing the Assembly about the elaboration and implementation of master
plans of communal services as well as about the implementation of plan
contracts (Act no 99-533 of 25 June 1999). |
