Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s desire is clear: to hold a debate on defense and drug trafficking issues in Parliament. “Our desire to allow Parliament to vote on all these subjects is complete,” stressed government spokesperson Maud Bregeon this Wednesday afternoon at the end of the Council of Ministers.
To do this, he recalled, the Prime Minister “will mobilize the National Assembly and the Senate within the framework of debate through voting” through article 50.1 of the Constitution. These two debates on defense and drug trafficking will take place on December 10 and 17 respectively, he stressed. But what article is this?
Debate is followed by voting… but without consequences
Concretely, this “debate”, in the application of article 50-1 of the Constitution, takes the form of a government declaration on a matter, before the intervention of each parliamentary group, and the government’s response to their questions.
The discussion as intended in article 50.1 has no legislative value, but can result in a vote, if the government decides so. The government is not responsible. “For Sébastien Lecornu, it is undoubtedly a question of showing that a thematic majority does exist, but that the votes in question will only have political and symbolic value,” constitutional expert Benjamin Morel said Monday on his X account.
As stated in this article 50.1, the initiative can come from the government “or from the parliamentary group”. The debate over drug trafficking would take place here especially at the request of the Socialist Party, as Maud Bregeon recalled. Socialist deputies called for a “national mobilization” on the issue, following the murder in the middle of the street of Mehdi Kessaci on November 13, the brother of Marseille environmental activist Amine Kessaci.
On the defense question, “this is a debate that should take place in the spending section of the finance bill”, a government spokesman confirmed. “However, because the revenue share has been rejected, a debate on the expenditure section will not occur at first reading. The Prime Minister considers this absolutely necessary, in a matter of so crucial and of such democratic significance, that the National Assembly and Senate can announce it themselves,” he continued.
