File n° 47 

Questions represent the most direct (and for oral questions, the most immediate) form of monitoring of Government action by the Parliament.

I. – Oral questions

The right to question the Government during the sitting was established by the 1958 Constitution and was strengthened by the constitutional revision of 1995. Article 48, paragraph 2 of the Constitution states that “at one sitting a week, at least, precedence shall be given to questions from Members of Parliament and to answers by the Government”.

In this framework, the National Assembly, in agreement with the Government freely manages its oral question sittings. The conditions for tabling a question are laid down by the Bureau and the organization of the sittings is carried out by the Conference of Presidents.

The practice of asking oral questions, followed by a debate, has almost fallen into abeyance but a new practice, that of asking oral questions without debate, called Government question time, was established in 1974.

1. – Oral questions without debate

Oral questions are asked by an M.P. to a minister. This prohibits collective questions (in particular those which could be asked by a chairman on behalf of his political group or of a standing committee).

The question must be drafted briefly and be limited to those elements absolutely essential for its understanding. It is very often connected to a local issue in the constituency of the M.P. who raises it. The question is then presented to the President of the National Assembly who in turn notifies the Government.

The Conference of Presidents reserves a sitting every Tuesday morning for oral questions, except during the period of the budget debate, during extraordinary sessions or when priority is given one morning a month to an agenda set by the Assembly itself.

The Conference of Presidents decides at the beginning of each Parliament the number of questions which can be asked during each sitting (25 at present) and their distribution between the political groups.

Each group has, in fact, a quota of questions proportional to its numerical size and selects its questions.

According to the rules laid down by the Conference of Presidents, the author of an oral question without debate has seven minutes speaking time during the sitting which he can divide between the brief setting-out of his question and an eventual reply to the answer of the minister.

During the ordinary session of 2005-2006, 16 question sittings were organized and 384 questions were asked.

2. – Government question time

Drawn up by the Conference of Presidents, the procedure of Government question time was implemented in 1974, in addition to the Rules of Procedure. It was originally to last for one hour per week. Since the introduction of the single parliamentary session in 1995, two sittings of one hour each have been given over to this procedure on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, including during the period of the budgetary discussion.

The time allotted to each question is five minutes, including the reply made by the minister. Twelve questions are therefore asked during each sitting, the distribution of questions being proportional to the numerical size of the political groups and each group being entitled to ask at least one question. Moreover, a supplementary question is allocated once a month during the sitting to an M.P. who is not a member of a group.

During the sitting, the President calls out the questions in such a way as to enable each of the groups, alternately, to begin and so as to have questions alternate between those coming from the ruling majority and those asked by an opposition group. The President scrupulously administers the respect of the speaking time so that all speakers can take advantage of the live broadcasting of the sitting, which has been carried out since 1981 by a public television channel.

Unlike the oral questions, questions to the Government are not tabled, notified or published in advance. In principle, their content is not communicated to the Government and only the names of the authors are transmitted one hour before the opening of the sitting. The spontaneous nature of these questions and the presence of the entire Government ensure a substantial audience at these sittings, which since they are televised are one of the highlights of the week in Parliament.

The content of the questions is entirely open (only insults and threats are prohibited). Nonetheless, since October 2003, the Conference of Presidents has decided to give over the first question of each group, on the first Wednesday of each month, to European issues. In practice, the dual procedure of oral questions and questions to the Government has enabled the first to be given over to questions of local interest and the second to political questions of a more general nature.

During the ordinary session of 2005-2006, 688 questions were asked to the Government in 58 sittings.

II. –  written questions

This procedure, for which provision is made in the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, also represents an individual prerogative of the M.P.s. It is the only procedure of this kind to take place outside the framework of the sittings and whose results come at a later date.

Written questions are asked by an M.P. to a minister; only those dealing with the general policy of the Government are asked to the Prime Minister. This right is not limited: each M.P. may table as many written questions as he so wishes.

Written questions must be drafted briefly and be limited to those elements absolutely essential for the understanding of the question. They must include no accusation of a personal nature regarding any person mentioned. In addition, the principle of the separation of powers and the immunity of the Head of State, prohibit the author from calling into question the actions of the President of the Republic.

The questions concern a great variety of subjects (questions of local or national interest, individual or collective problems etc.). All issues can thus be dealt with, but it should be noted that around half the questions are on fiscal or social problems.

The draft of the written question is then presented to the President of the National Assembly who in turn notifies the Government. With effect from the beginning of the XIII^th Parliament, M.P.s are invited to ask their questions in an electronic form using a specific website or to send them attached to an electronic message. The written questions are published each week, both during and outside of sessions, in a special supplement of the Journal Officiel, which also includes the replies of the ministers to the questions tabled previously. The answers of the ministers must be published in the two months following the publication of the questions.

On account of its simplicity and the absence of any limitation, the written questions procedure is very popular. It allows the M.P.s to question ministers on issues often directly concerning their constituents, when they so desire (even during recess) and as often as they so wish. The first consequence of this has been an unbridled increase in the number of written questions: the total has risen from 3,700 written questions tabled in 1959, to 12,000 in 1994 and more than 32,000 in 2006.

To some extent, it can be said that the procedure has been the victim of its own success, as, faced with this “tidal wave”, the Government has been experiencing growing difficulties in replying within the statutory time limits.

Several initiatives have been taken in order to remedy this problem:

― The publication at the top of each weekly supplement to the Journal Officiel of the list of questions, published two months previously and remaining unanswered;

― Publication in the Journal Officiel, under the title of the relevant minister, of the questions remaining unanswered for more than three months and whose author requests renewal;

―  The twice-yearly publication in the Journal Officiel of the statistics, per minister, regarding answers to written questions;

―  The implementation of a procedure called ‘highlighted questions’. Each week, during the session, the chairmen of the political groups choose a small number of questions (around twenty according to a proportional distribution chart) from amongst those remaining unanswered beyond the statutory limit (i.e. two months). These questions are highlighted in the Journal Officiel and ministers commit themselves to answering them within ten days. This commitment has always been respected since the introduction of this procedure in 1994.

In addition, it should be noted that the replies to such questions have no legal status and do not bind the administration except in fiscal matters where they are considered as the expression of the administrative interpretation of the texts.

During the session from 2005-2006 (from October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2006) 32,423 written questions were asked of which 26,415 obtained an answer and 648 were ‘highlighted’.

The administration records the written questions, checks their admissibility (it thus, for example, makes contact with the authors when a draft is too long or includes personal accusations).

The fact of being able to carry out searches for questions and replies by theme on the website of the National Assembly (in the section named “Contrôle, évaluation, information: questions écrites et orales”) is a very useful documentary instrument available to M.P.s, administrations and the general public.