Why is Parliament’s Finance Committee so coveted?

Of the eight standing committees that make up the National Assembly, it is undoubtedly the most ambitious. Finance CommitteeThis is particularly strategic given that the presidency has been held by the opposition since 2007. France Without Sumis (LFI) representatives Eric Cockrell He was re-elected as leader this Saturday morning. What is the role of the committee and what powers does its chairperson have?

The main responsibility of the Finance Committee is to control National Budget. Specifically, every year before entering the chamber, she checks the financial bill, which contains all the revenues and expenses for the coming year. The committee also ensures the application of this budget. So, she can visit a department unannounced to audit the expenditures. Then we talked about on-site inspections and document checks. Recently, the Senate Finance Committee conducted an audit in Bercy to reveal the reasons for the worsening of the French deficit in 2023. The committee can also subpoena any person, minister, European Commissioner or director involved in the country’s financial problems. A public company.

First, Article 40 of the Constitution provides that: “Proposals and amendments proposed by members of Parliament will not be adopted if their adoption would result in a reduction of public resources or the creation or increase of public burdens”Most often, deputies circumvent regulations by adding a surcharge on alcohol or tobacco excise taxes in bills or amendments for the sake of formality. The fact remains that it is up to the committee chairmen to assess whether their colleagues’ initiatives are adequately funded.

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At the discretion of the President

In fact, this is the practice of successive presidents. In the last legislative term, Eric Cockrell interpreted Article 40 quite flexibly and even proposed to repeal it. For example, he did not support the presidential majority’s view that the bill proposed by the LIOT group to repeal the pension reform should be considered inadmissible for the purposes of this article. world He stressed that this provision established “Bills of the executive branch do not need to comply with Section 40, whereas the same is true of the legislative branch.”.

In 2007, under Nicolas Sarkozy, the practice changed and the post of President of the Finance Committee was held by a member of the opposition. The following year, this practice became a regular practice when it was incorporated into the statutes of both chambers at the time of the 2008 constitutional amendment. In the current Legislative Chamber, only the President’s camp did not express opposition. However, what would happen if the LFI were to receive one or more portfolios in the next government? The Assembly would find itself in the almost unprecedented situation of having the President of the Finance Committee belong to a party in the executive branch.

However, there is precedent for this: Eric Worth In February 2022, he was elected president of the committee with the Republicans (LR) and announced his support for Emmanuel Macron in February 2022. The opposition then demanded his resignation as president of the Finance Committee, but Eric Walter remained in office until June 2022 and the end of the 15th Legislative Assembly.