The Liots are preparing to be talked about again. A few hours before Gabriel Attal’s general policy speech to the National Assembly, the group’s boss, Bertrand Pancher, wants to force any new prime minister to seek a vote of confidence, according to information from Politico Playbook confirmed by Le Figaro . A tradition to which the head of government, like his predecessor, Élisabeth Borne, will not submit this Tuesday in the Hemicycle.
In this constitutional bill, consulted by Le Figaro, Bertrand Pancher wants the Prime Minister to “commit his government responsibility to his program” before the Lower House “within ten days” following his appointment. “In all the democracies around us, each time there is a new government, there is a vote of confidence,” explains the elected official from Meuse, who wishes to “rebalance the institutions”. Relayed Monday evening to parliamentarians, the text must still collect “signatures” before being tabled in the “coming days,” he assures. Environmentalist deputies, including Julien Bayou, would already support the transpartisan initiative. “It still seems perfectly normal that a prime minister asks for confidence and that when he delivers his general policy speech, Parliament can say, or not, whether it agrees,” underlines the elected EELV Sabrina Sebaihi, who could also co-sign this text from the Liot group
But if all the Nupes groups would support the initiative, the other movements represented at the Palais Bourbon seem much less supportive. “We will not sign and vote on this. It would be scoring against our camp,” says an elected official from the relative majority. The message is the same on the Republican side. “This makes no sense when we know that there are political configurations where there is no absolute majority, and where the government cannot therefore obtain the confidence of Parliament. From this point of view, the Constitution is quite well done,” supports the president of the LR group at the Palais Bourbon, Olivier Marleix. “What is the objective of this text. How would this change the lives of the French,” responds Renaud Labaye, the secretary general of the RN group in the Assembly.
The text would therefore have no chance of being supported in the National Assembly. Especially since the proposal should be voted on in the same terms at the Palais Bourbon and in the Senate. Even in the event of a surprise adoption, it would then have to be submitted to a referendum. A scenario which has never come true since 1958, no constitutional law proposal having been successful. Nothing to discourage the group of independents, which intends to put its text on the agenda during a “transpartisan week” or during its parliamentary niche, scheduled for next June. Way, according to Bertrand Pancher, to “open the debate”. Last April, the heterogeneous group had already hit the headlines with their proposed law aimed at repealing the pension reform.
