“Bad spectacle”: with Gabriel Attal alone, the new formula of questions to the government does not convince deputies

For the first time this Wednesday, Gabriel Attal experimented with a new format of questions to the government in one stage. “Well, this doesn’t change anything,” we heard in the corridors of the Palais Bourbon at the end of this first unprecedented 45-minute face-to-face meeting between the prime minister and MPs.

“I am glad to be able to experiment with this new format,” Gabriel Attal explained at the beginning in front of the deputies, that he “has always accepted the proposals that have been made (to him) regarding the reports to be presented as Prime Minister in front of the deputies. -à-vis to national representation and the press.”

Tested until the end of May, this new formula was confirmed with the support of the Macronists of the Renaissance, the right and the far right. But without the left, who feared a “show” on the part of the prime minister, as well as without allies in the presidential camp of Horizons and MoDem.

“Fiasco”

A “fiasco” in the eyes of PCF head Fabien Roussel, since Gabriel Attal “cannot answer all the questions in such a vast area.” “This is disrespect for parliament, whose job is to control the actions of the government,” he said, likening the session to a “propaganda exercise.”

According to Ministry of Democracy MP Erwan Balanant, this alone on stage “downplays the role of everyone: the role of parliamentarians, who give precise answers to questions, and the role of ministers.” The new formula goes not “towards parliament”, but “even towards concentration”.

Gabriel Attal did not make any statements, but confirmed that the government would “never” increase taxes on “working French people” or “the fruits of their savings”, while raising taxes to reduce the deficit is shared by the majority.

“Bad show”

“We have a show, but we have a bad show,” complained the president of the environmentalist group in the Assembly, Cyrielle Chatelain. “We have formal answers, but very few substantive answers,” she added, fearing that the head of government would use the platform as a “campaign platform.”

“I wonder if this will make people shudder?” – asked the leader of the deputies of the centrist group, Liot Bertrand Puncher, although he was in favor of the new formula. He lamented the “very general and insufficiently technical” responses, while MPs are “awaiting precise answers to which ministers undoubtedly could have responded better.”

This exercise was inspired by the Prime Minister’s Questions exercise in the UK House of Commons. Following the tradition of questions to the government, the topics chosen by the opposition were not disclosed in advance. The speakers were known in advance, but were not group leaders. People around the Prime Minister emphasized that this is still a “run-in week.”

Unemployment, level groups, finance

In fact, the session began only with questions from the most radical parties, such as that of Sébastien Chenu (RN), who criticized the government’s “flute tune” regarding public finances, which “does nothing charming for the Mozarts of finance.” “With you, it would be the twilight of retirement and the curse of debt. This is the program of the National Rally,” replied Gabriel Attal, while Marine Le Pen, the leader of the RN deputies, shouted: “You are a ruin” and the Renaissance deputies applauded the head of government.

When Gabriel Attal defended peer groups in schools as a “profoundly social measure,” France’s Insoumise MPs became agitated. “Nobody wants this,” Antoine Leaman said. “There is no point in shouting to prevent me from speaking,” replied the Prime Minister, who was still applauded in his camp.

A brief exchange on the unemployment rate also pitted Gabriel Attal against Adrien Quatennens, with the LFI MP criticizing the new unemployment insurance reform, which even some in the majority dispute. The head of government defended “a social model that is more stimulating to activity.”

Sébastien Chenu subsequently considered the exercise “successful” because “we are in direct contact with the decision maker” but who “deserves a little oil in the cogs”.