He, alone, will face the French nation's representatives. Starting on April 3, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will "personally" answer MPs' questions during the questions to the government session on Wednesdays. Fifty years after President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing initially created this question time, the Assemblée Nationale's group leaders reached a compromise on Tuesday, March 26, to "test" this new format for five weeks, though they are far from unanimous.
Attal, alone on the floor for 45 minutes, will answer 10 questions – one from each group in the Assemblée – of two minutes each. This new format was designed to "boost interest" in the questions to the government session, said a source close to Assemblée President Yaël Braun-Pivet, of Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party. In November 2023, Braun-Pivet had already spearheaded a change to the format, breaking into two sessions: one on Tuesdays (lasting one hour and 15 minutes) and one on Wednesdays (lasting 45 minutes), instead of the traditional single Tuesday session lasting two hours.
The four left-wing groups – La France Insoumise (LFI), Greens, Socialists and Communists – all spoke out against what they considered an additional platform for the prime minister. "My fear is that it will end up as a kind of Attal show," said Cyrielle Chatelain, the president of the Green group. Socialist group leader Boris Vallaud refused to support the new format, which would deny MPs the last word.
More unexpectedly, the Macron-allied parties MoDem and Horizons also spoke out against this unprecedented practice, which was inspired by the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. Jean-Paul Mattei, president of the MoDem group, said it reflects a "very vertical vision" of power and "limits the ability of MPs to question ministers," who are in a better position to give them a precise answer. "Even if he's brilliant, Gabriel Attal won't be able to answer everything," said Mattei.
These doubts were also shared by some within Macron's party. "I'm not sure it's the prime minister's role to answer the most technical questions," said Marc Ferracci, vice president of the Renaissance group. "The idea is for this to be a very political session. If MPs use it to ask extremely technical questions, it won't be of any use," agreed Sylvain Maillard, the president of the Renaissance group.
Hypercentralized government communication
Only four groups approved the innovation: Renaissance, Les Républicains (LR, right), the Rassemblement National (RN, far right), and LIOT, a group of miscellaneous independents. "The idea is to restore a little appeal to this second Wednesday session," for which the ranks of MPs have become increasingly sparse, said LR group president Olivier Marleix. "It's a mark of respect towards all the MPs, since any one of them will be able to question the prime minister," said Maillard, whereas, previously, only group leaders could address the prime minister directly during the Tuesday session.
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