What is the point of a motion of censure?

The government will have to face two motions of censure provoked by the Benalla affair. The deputies The Republicans (LR) deposited, Thursday, July 26th, a first motion while arguing that the case had "brought to light a confusion of powers at the head of the executive (…) and a failure of the government to exercise its institutional responsibilities and powers ". The three leftist groups in the Assembly – Nouvelle Gauche, La France rebel (LFI) and Left Democrat and Republican – have done the same, the next day, to make the voice of the opposition of the left.

the paper, the motion of censure is the parliamentary weapon that can overthrow the government. Under the terms of article 49, paragraph 2 of the 1958 Constitution, "the National Assembly questions the responsibility of the Government by the vote of a motion of censure" . However, the almost permanent existence, under the V ^e Republic, of a stable majority favorable to the action of the government makes it almost impossible to adopt it.

See also:
        
    
                Committee, motion of censure, quaestors: to find a way in the vocabulary of the Assembly
    

How is it tabled?

The tabling of a motion of censure by the government requires the signature of one-tenth of the deputies of the National Assembly, ie 58 of the 577 deputies in the Hemicycle. This was a formality for the LR group, which currently has 103 deputies in the Palais-Bourbon, and did not pose any problem for the "three left", strong of 65 elected.

Once filed, the motion of censure, said "spontaneous" because at the initiative of the deputies, must be examined within forty-eight hours. Tabled on July 26, the text of the deputies LR must be debated on Tuesday, July 31, at 3 pm, instead of questions to the government.

The text of the motion of censure will then be put to the vote of 577 deputies. "Only votes favorable to the motion are taken into account, precise Sophie de Cacqueray, mistress of lectures in public law at the University Aix-Marseille, member of the group of researchers in law The Highlighters. A member who abstains is considered by the government.

Is it likely to succeed?

To be able to bring down the government of Edouard Philippe, the text of the motion of censure must obtain a favorable vote of the absolute majority, ie 289 deputies. Given the composition of the National Assembly, it will be a priori impossible for right-wing or left-wing MPs to obtain this majority.

The band La Republique en marche (LRM), largely in the Palais-Bourbon, occupies alone 312 of the 577 seats in the Hemicycle. Without counting the Modem deputies (46) and the elected Union of the Democrats and Independents (UDI) and Republicans constructive (31), rather favorable to the government.

The chances that these motions of censure manage to overthrow the current government are therefore almost zero. In a press conference on Tuesday, LR group president Christian Jacob acknowledged that this initiative "was not going to bring down the government."

Used more than a hundred times in history of the V ^e Republic, the motion of censure resulted in the fall of a government only once. The adoption of the one filed against the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage in 1962, had pushed the government of Georges Pompidou to resign … But it had been restored in the wake, after the victory of the Gaullists to

The guarantee of a long debate with the government

The tabling of a motion of censure is a symbolic initiative whose aim is political. "Her interest is to rise to public opinion that the opposition is in its role, that it tries to oppose the action of the government believes Sophie de Cacqueray. It allows the opposition to continue paralyzing parliamentary activity. The government had already been forced, on 23 July, to announce the postponement of the examination of the constitutional revision at the start of the academic year, because of the recrudescence in the Chamber of the interruptions and reminders to the regulations related to the Benalla affair

In the absence of being able to overthrow the government, the tabling of these motions of censure by the deputies of right and left guarantees them a long debate with the prime minister Edouard Philippe. "It constitutes an opportunity for the opposition to maintain the Benalla affair, its principal angle of attack against the government", adds M ^me of Cacqueray.