Elected officials in favor of the return of the “parliamentary reserve”, a symbol of political clientelism

During a seminar organized on Wednesday June 7 at the Assembly, deputies want to relaunch the reflection on the role of the local elected representative. Under the pretty title “Finding the path of the territories”, several round tables will explore ways to enhance the function of parliamentarians and their ability to influence the lives of citizens, whether it is the place of new technologies or deserts. medical. But the main purpose of the initiative is to promote the return of the parliamentary reserve, this budgetary envelope left to the discretion of the deputies which was abolished in 2017.

Transparency guarantees

At the beginning of February, the deputies Dino Cinieri (LR) and André Villiers (Horizons) tabled a bill to reintroduce this device. The two elected officials have since succeeded in bringing about 140 of their colleagues into their fight, mainly from the right, from the far right, but also some names from the majority like Karl Olive (Renaissance) or Philippe Vigier (MoDem). The seminar of the day was mounted in haste to try to obtain the inscription of the text within the framework of a transpartisan niche programmed in July but finally brought forward to June.

In a column published in Ouest-France, Dino Cinieri and André Villiers highlight the need to “revalue the territories” through this “local funding” – €150,000 per deputy – intended for projects carried out by small municipalities and associations. The two elected officials plan to frame the system of allocation criteria and guarantees of transparency such as the publication in the Official Journal of the use of these funds.

Because in fact, with the movement to moralize political life, the parliamentary reserve had become one of the symbols of clientelism, even of the corruption of elected officials. It was not until 2012 that fair rules for the distribution of envelopes between deputies were set (the same applies to the Senate). The following year, after the Cahuzac affair scandal, the law made the list of beneficiaries of the reserve compulsory. In 2015, a report by the Court of Auditors again severely judged the lack of rigor in the allocation of subsidies. Finally, immediately after the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017, the law for confidence in political life buried the parliamentary reserve in the name of the requirement of transparency.

The explanatory memorandum to the new bill emphasizes that this “deletion has caused misunderstanding among many associations and municipalities”. Its replacement by funds managed by the prefectures has led to “a remote management of the territories”. The two elected officials believe in their forum that for lack of time and human resources, “the system is slipping”. The issue of the return of the reserve is according to them “crucial”.

Legitimacy problem

An analysis which is however not corroborated by the main interested parties. A manager of an association of elected officials from small municipalities thus ensures that this restoration is not a demand from the base. “These deputies are lobbying intensely to present this as a response to the demands of the territories, but it is above all a response to their problem of legitimacy”, believes this familiar mayor.

Political scientist Emmanuel Négrier, a specialist in local policies, particularly cultural ones, also sees in this attempt to restore the reserve a symptom of the current political crisis. “In 2017, two new political forces, LREM (now Renaissance) and LFI emerged not on the model of locally rooted parties, but of vertically organized movements. We see today a quest for rooting, a revenge of the territory”, analyzes the university of Montpellier (CNRS-Cepel).

Despite a favorable air of time, the initiative of the two elected officials has only slim chances of succeeding. Within the Horizons party, we look with caution at the “personal initiative” of André Villiers. “The subject was not even discussed in the group”, explains a framework of the formation of Édouard Philippe, the ex-prime minister who removed the reserve.

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