Quorum requests to maintain watch | EUROtoday

Dn an Assembly the place debates and budgetary negotiations have largely spilled over from the provisional timetable, the dialogue of extra bizarre texts had change into a sought-after train. The area of interest day of the Les Républicains (LR) group subsequently turned a possibility for the La France Insoumise (LFI) group to sharpen its obstruction instruments, put apart for the reason that fall, from the examination of the primary textual content of the agenda.

It is troublesome, nonetheless, to decelerate the dialogue of a proposed European decision (a “PPRE”, right here aiming to incorporate the Muslim Brotherhood motion on the European listing of terrorist organizations). The proper of modification could be very restricted, the textual content being by nature itself significantly circumscribed.

Only 22 amendments (together with sub-amendments) having subsequently been tabled, it was essential to deliver out the timeless factors of order and requests to droop the session. At the time of penning this put up, already 9 factors of order have been made and two suspensions of authorized periods have been granted to the teams that requested them.

In order to decelerate the examination of this PPRE a little bit additional, the president of the LFI group, Mathilde Panot, introduced out an article from the rules which had fallen into disuse aimed toward requesting a quorum of the Assembly.

Indeed, article 61 of the RAN supplies that “ the Assembly is always in numbers to deliberate and settle its agenda, [sauf] at the request of a president of a group, to check the quorum “.

This is logical, to the extent that, most of the time during which a session is held, the standing committees can meet to examine other texts, carry out hearings and the deputies can themselves prepare reports or make appointments to honor, within the walls of the Palace as in the constituency.

The request for a quorum is therefore very exceptionally formulated, everyone being well aware of the reality of parliamentary work.

It nevertheless remains a formidable tool of obstruction since, when the quorum is not reached, the regulations impose a suspension of the session for a quarter of an hour to exempt the vote from the presence of the absolute majority of the number of deputies in office.

This is also the reason why the use of this article is very limited: firstly, only a group president can ask to check the quorum. If he can delegate certain of his powers such as the request for public ballots with the “pink sheet”, the request for a quorum stays a non-transferable privilege. Then, the president of the requesting group should guarantee that almost all of the members of his group are current, as a result of “well-ordered charity begins with oneself”…