What is a parliamentary fee of inquiry actually for? | EUROtoday
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OWe now not rely the variety of them, and their names go on and on. The National Assembly and Senate multiply them, and a few of them cross the media iron curtain to develop into social points: these well-known commissions of inquiry, whose functioning is comparable in each chambers.
Their themes can range, from the French coverage of nuclear experimentation to violence on the planet of cinema. However, their function, their functioning and their penalties stay unclear within the eyes of most of the people. We take inventory.
The precept of making a fee of inquiry
Since 2008, commissions of inquiry have been included in article 51-2 of the Constitution, which specifies that “for the exercise of the control and evaluation missions defined in the first paragraph of article 24, commissions of inquiry “surveys can be created within each assembly to collect, under the conditions provided for by law, elements of information”.
ALSO READ What’s wrong with parliamentary commissions of inquiryThe creation of a commission of inquiry is exclusively a parliamentary initiative. Over time, the regulations of the National Assembly have relaxed the terms. An opposition or minority group can request the creation of a commission. A permanent commission then judges the admissibility and appropriateness of such a proposal and must “determine precisely either the facts which give rise to investigation, or the public services or enterprises whose management the commission must examine”.
The National Assembly then decides in public session on the advisability of the commission. But each political group also has an annual “drawing right”, in which it can request inclusion on the agenda for the creation of the commission of inquiry. The permanent commission then only judges its admissibility. This right can be exercised by a parliamentary group once per session.
How is a parliamentary committee composed?
Limits exist in the law regarding the creation of commissions. For example, it cannot be created when the facts gave rise to legal proceedings. But, generally speaking, the limits are not binding. Then comes the time for the composition of these commissions of inquiry.
In the National Assembly, they are made up of 31 deputies; in the Senate, of 23 senators. Today, members are appointed proportionally from the groups in Parliament, to which one non-member is added. The political configuration of the hemicycle must be respected. The function of president or rapporteur falls by right to a member of the opposition group. Within the framework of the right of drawing, the group which is at the origin indicates which of these two functions it wants to exercise.
ALSO READ Public deficit: towards the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiryA commission of inquiry is, by definition, limited in time: it cannot exceed six months after the date of its creation. Its members are given significant powers. They have the right to direct quotation and can thus summon the people whose hearing they consider useful. They have a large enough arsenal to be able to obtain the necessary documents and can freely decide on the organization and publicity of the hearings. At the end of the hearings, a report is then drawn up and adopted and published in the days that follow.
What impact do parliamentary commissions of inquiry have?
If, until now, these commissions seem to have only a symbolic or advisory role, their conclusions can influence the actions of the government or the justice system. The reports, which contain proposals (both those of the majority and the minority commissioners) can give rise to the tabling of a bill. They can be raised during a debate without a vote or during questions to the government. Six months after the publication of the report, a new report presents its implementation. Enough to force us to take it into account.
Also, commissions of inquiry can uncover criminal acts. If they cannot act directly, the members of the commission can transmit the information to the Ministry of Justice for the purpose of opening a judicial investigation or directly refer the matter to the public prosecutor’s office. Finally, currently, commissions of inquiry take on a media character.
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The listening to of Judith Godrèche through the fee of inquiry referring to violence dedicated within the cinema, audiovisual, reside efficiency, style and promoting sectors; that of Cyril Hanouna on the allocation, content material and management of authorizations for nationwide tv providers on digital terrestrial tv; these of Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande on the sovereignty and vitality independence of France… So many examples which can be notably publicized and which exhibit the affect that these commissions can have.
ALSO READ TNT fee of inquiry: what to recollect from the listening to of Vincent BolloréSince 2022, within the National Assembly alone, twenty commissions of inquiry have been created. The dissolution of final July suspended all present commissions. Since then, new ones have been launched. Sometimes, anonymously. And, increasingly usually, now, in full gentle.
https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/a-quoi-sert-vraiment-une-commission-d-enquete-parlementaire-19-12-2024-2578403_20.php