File n° 21 

As the essential working bodies of the National Assembly, the main role of the standing committees is to prepare the legislative debate in plenary sitting. In practice, no bill is discussed without first having been the subject of a report by the relevant committee.

However, far from confining themselves to this role, the standing committees have been extending their sphere of influence, as also appears to be the case in many parliaments, to activities in other areas. The foremost of these are the fields of keeping the National Assembly informed and of monitoring the Government.

I. – tHE COMMITTEES: preparingT HE LEGISLATIVE DEBATE for the PLENARY SITTING

1. – Number and remit of the committees 

The framers of the Constitution of 1958 attempted to strictly limit the influence of the standing committees. This explains:

― The stress placed by the Constitution itself on the number of standing committees. This number is limited to six and is thus distinctly lower than that in the other parliaments of the European Union. This clearly marks a break with the Fourth Republic and its 18 parliamentary committees. In addition, the creation of sub-committees is de facto prohibited;

― The decision to make referral to an ad hoc committee the rule and referral to a standing committee the exception (see article 43 of the Constitution which provides that Government and Members’ bills are sent for examination to an ad hoc committee specially set up for that purpose or, if this is not the case, then to one of the six standing committees). Parliamentary practice, however, did not follow this provision as the ad hoc committee proved difficult to handle for a variety of reasons. For the Government there was the loss of the reference points provided by the standing committees. There was also the operational problem of the standing committees continuing to sit. The standing committees themselves put a break on the setting-up of a body usurping part of their prerogatives whilst the whole legislative procedure was slowed down by the fact that, as an ad hoc committee ceased to exist once the bill referred to it had been passed, it was in its interest to extend the period of examination of said bill.

Article 36 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly states the name and the remit of the six standing committees:

― Cultural, Family and Social Affairs Committee,

―  Economic Affairs, Environment and Regional Planning Committee,

―  Foreign Affairs Committee,

―  National Defence and Armed Forces Committee,

―  Finance, General Economy and Planning Committee,

―  Constitutional Acts, Legislation and General Administration Committee.

The Cultural, Family and Social Affairs Committee and the Economic Affairs, Environment and Regional Planning Committee each bring together about a quarter of the members of the National Assembly (i.e. around 145 M.P.s), the four other committees having a membership of one eighth of the number of members of the National Assembly.

Each M.P. may only be a member of one standing committee.

2. –  Setting-up and working of the committees

At the beginning of each Parliament, and from then on, every year at the beginning of the ordinary session, the National Assembly appoints the members of the standing committees, on the basis of the proportional representation of the political groups and upon the nomination of the chairmen of these groups. Each committee then appoints a Bureau to run it. This Bureau is made up of a chairman and, according to the number of members, three or four deputy chairmen and three or four secretaries. The Finance Committee also appoints a General Rapporteur.

Each committee has at its disposal:

― Its own meeting room with a public address system and the equipment necessary for the recording of debates (this is an essential guarantee in the case of the minutes being contested);

― Its own team of parliamentary civil servants led by a head of secretariat. The committee secretariats have a staff of 150 of whom 62 are administrateurs (clerks) — as opposed to 16 at the beginning of the Fifth Republic — i.e. 60 % of the total of parliamentary civil servants in this category;

― Specific financial means to cover travel expenses and study costs, for instance.

The standing committees are extremely active, as illustrated by the following data pertaining to the 2005-2006 session:

― 417 meetings making up a total of 626 hours (of which 150 hours were given over to the budget debate);

―  291 meetings involving hearings (including 112 involving members of the Government);

―  219 reports filed.

The standing committees usually work within a very limited timeframe. They do not, in principle, sit when a plenary sitting of the National Assembly is taking place (except in case of absolute necessity due to the order of business). This principle is, however, very difficult to respect, especially since the single session was introduced in 1995 and has concentrated the plenary sittings on three working days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). Wednesday morning is reserved for committee work. Almost all committee meetings take place on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday.

However the greatest constraint from a time point of view is, without doubt, that imposed by the order of business. It is rare for there to be more than three weeks between the adoption of a bill by the Council of Ministers and its inclusion on the order of business of the National Assembly. The time available to the committee and more specifically to its rapporteur is thus very short.

This explains why, except in favourable circumstances, the committee only interviews one person (the minister in charge of introducing the bill), as the rapporteur will have organized in advance various working meetings with all interested parties (trade union representatives, professional organizations, experts and qualified individuals etc.).

3. –   Referral to committee

a)  Ad Hoc Committee or Standing Committee ?

Article 85 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly states that the President of the National Assembly shall refer any bill tabled, either sponsored by the Government or by a Member, to the ad hoc committee created for that reason or to the relevant standing committee.

An ad hoc committee is set up ipso jure on Government request or if such a request is made by one or several political group chairmen, if the overall membership of the group or groups concerned is equal to the absolute majority of members of the National Assembly. However, such a request cannot be made in the case of finance bills and bills approving international treaties.

In other cases (i.e., when the request comes from a standing committee, a political group or thirty M.P.s), the request for the setting-up of an ad hoc committee is considered passed unless there is opposition from the Government, the chairman of a standing committee or the chairman of a political group. In the case of opposition, the decision lies with the National Assembly.

In practice, almost all bills are sent to a standing committee (since 1988 only 14 bills have been examined by an ad hoc committee).

In the case of conflict between two standing committees where both consider the bill to fall within their remit, the final decision lies with the National Assembly (this is a very rare occurrence as the last example dates back to 1979).

b)  Referral to Consultative Committees

The almost total absence of conflict regarding areas of responsibility can be explained partly by the flexibility of the procedure of referral for consultation which allows each standing committee to express its view on all or on a part of a bill which has been sent for examination to another standing committee.

Thus, every year, in the case of the finance bill which is sent to the Finance Committee as lead committee, the five other standing committees are consulted.

Nonetheless, outside of the finance bill, the procedure of “consultative referral” is quite seldom used. Several reasons explain this lack of use:

―  The “frustrating” nature of the “consultative referral” procedure. For the committee consulted and its rapporteur it represents a significant amount of work for a relatively limited result.

―  The possibility now granted to M.P.s who are not members of a committee to attend the work of another committee (in the past only the rapporteur of the consultative committee could attend with a consultative voice).

4. – Carrying out committee responsibilities in legislative matters

a)   The Work of the Rapporteur

For each Government or Members’ bill, the relevant committee appoints a rapporteur amongst its members.

The rapporteur has no specific powers of investigation (except the “special rapporteurs”, i.e. those members of the Finance Committee in charge of examining the budgets of a specific mission, who have almost an unlimited access to information, including the right to search for evidence themselves in any official building. This privilege has recently been extended to the Chairman and to the “General Rapporteur” of the Finance Committee. The latter is in charge of the examination of the whole draft budget bill).

With the assistance of parliamentary civil servants the rapporteur is vested with two main responsibilities:

―   An assessment mission of the bill, which leads to the filing of a report;

―   A proposal mission, which leads him to introduce amendments.

b)  The Examination of Bills in Committee

The examination of a report by a committee closely resembles the procedure followed in plenary sitting.

It usually begins with a general discussion, sometimes preceded by or even replaced by the appearance of the relevant minister. The committee then moves to the examination of the bill, article by article, as well as all the amendments (including those introduced through the Table Office by M.P.s who are not members of the committee). In principle, the Government may attend this examination, but, in practice, this possibility is rarely used. The committee debate finishes with a vote on the whole bill and the report concludes with the adoption (with or without amendments) of the Government bill or with its rejection and with a reviewed and reworded bill in the case of a members’ bill.

c)   The Prerogatives of Committees in Plenary Sitting

In plenary sitting the committee is represented by its chairman and by its rapporteur. When taking the floor, the rapporteur is the spokesman of the committee and he must defend its opinions (even if they are the opposite of his own, which he may nonetheless express “in his personal capacity”). The rapporteur reports the position of the committee on each of the amendments submitted to the National Assembly.

The chairman and the rapporteur of the lead committee have the privilege of taking the floor in plenary sitting when they wish to. In addition, they may, by right, request an adjournment of the sitting, a public ballot or a deferment of the debate.

II. – extension of the role of STANDING COMMITTEES

1. –  Extension of the role of standing committees in the legislative field

a) The Simplified Examination Procedure

A reform, introduced in 1991 and modified in 1998, brought in the simplified examination procedure (articles 103 and 107 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly). After examination in committee following the usual procedure, the debate in plenary sitting is limited to a short general discussion and to the examination only of those articles amended. This procedure may be opposed during the Conference of Presidents at the latest before 5 p.m. on the evening before the bill is discussed (such an objection may be raised by the President of the National Assembly, by the Government, by the chairman of the relevant committee or by the chairman of a political group). This procedure is actually quite rarely used and mainly for bills ratifying international agreements or conventions which, by their very nature, are almost never the subject of amendments. As a consequence of this procedure, the complete examination of a bill is only carried out in committee.

b) The Monthly Sitting with Priority to the Agenda of each Assembly

Another reform which enhances the legislative role of the committees reserves a monthly sitting to give priority to the agenda fixed by each assembly (article 48, paragraph 3 of the Constitution). This possibility is used by the political groups to have Members’ bills debated in plenary sitting (with the debate being held on the text adopted by the standing committee) or on motions requesting the setting-up of a committee of inquiry (the National Assembly generally adopts the position of the standing committee).

The step has not yet been taken, even if this issue is often raised, to grant a true legislative power to the committees (as is the case in the Spanish and Italian parliaments) in order to lighten the workload in plenary sitting.

2. – The reinforcement of information and monitoring activities

Article 145 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly states that the standing committees must keep the National Assembly informed so as to allow it to carry out its function of monitoring Government policy.

The power of the standing committees concerning monitoring Government activities remained almost dormant for a long time. A substantial and continuous development of these activities has been noticeable recently, and particularly over the last ten years.

a)Hearings in Committee

Hearings in committee, and in particular, interviews of ministers, have become a traditional and privileged method of working for the standing committees.

Since the law of June 14, 1996, the committees have also been vested with the right to call for interview any person they so wish (refusing to reply to such a call is punishable by a € 7,500 fine) whilst taking into account, on the one hand, subjects of a secret nature concerning national defence, foreign affairs and the internal or external security of the State and, on the other hand, the respect of the principle of the separation of the legal authority and the other powers.

b) Temporary Fact-finding Missions

The temporary fact-finding missions, which are set up within each committee and are sometimes shared by several committees, have become more and more numerous since 1990. Their work leads to the publication of information reports. In addition, since 1996, such missions may be granted, for a maximum of six months, the investigation powers enjoyed by the committees of inquiry, in the case of a specific mission. The popularity of such missions (20 are established each year) is mainly due to the lack of formality required in their setting-up.

c)  Assessment and Monitoring Missions

Since 1999, within the Finance Committee, there has been an Assessment and Monitoring Mission (Mission d’évaluation et de contrôle, MEC) based on the National Audit Office of the British Parliament. Every year it carries out an assessment of public policies through its work on various topics selected by the Bureau of the Finance Committee. It published 11 reports during the XII^th Parliament. The MEC is co-chaired by a member of the governing majority and a member of the opposition.

In order to better monitor the financing of the social security system, the Cultural, Family and Social Affairs Committee created an Assessment and Monitoring Mission on the Social Security Finance Laws in 2004. This mission was based on the MEC. It has published five reports since it began its work in January 2005.

3. –   Committees and European norms

Since 1992, the Government must submit to the National Assembly and to the Senate all European legislation in preparation which includes provisions of a legislative nature. The Delegation for the European Union files, as it thinks fit, reports, which are generally accompanied by motions for resolution on certain of these instruments.

The aforementioned motions for resolution (including those tabled individually by M.P.s) are examined by the relevant standing committee. If, within eight days of the distribution of the committee’s report, the Government, a political group chairman, a committee chairman or the Chairman of the Delegation for the European Union, has not requested its inclusion on the order of business in plenary sitting, the resolution is considered adopted and the position of the National Assembly on the corresponding European legislation is therefore officialised.

4. – Modification of the rules concerning the public nature of committee proceedings

Until 1994 the public nature of committee proceedings was limited to the publication of the analytical minutes which were released as quickly as possible (usually the day after the meeting).

Since 1994, the public nature of the proceedings has been increased. The minutes of the proceedings of all standing committees are now also published in the “committee bulletin”, which is a weekly publication during the session.

In addition, the Bureau of a committee may now decide to open meetings, during which interviews are carried out, to the press.

M.P.s who are not members of the committee may also, without taking part in the votes, attend meetings and take the floor during them. This is also the case for the Government (which, in practice, has almost never used this particular possibility).