L'Assemblée Nationale

So I had a pretty cool day today! We had a class trip to the Assemblée Nationale, which roughly equates to the American House of Representatives. Pretty cool huh? We were supposed to do a small tour and then Q & A with some random guy, but instead they were having an emergency session so all of the stuff we were supposed to see was barred to the public. So instead? We got to sit in on the session! It was way cool, and I'm glad I know French so I could understand what was going on. They were debating putting really strict restrictions on speaking times at sessions. Right now they are allowed to talk for an undetermined amount of time, as long as its topical... sort of like a filibuster but not really. The new plan would put some pretty tight restrictions on everything. The majority (right wing) is in favor of all of this, but the opposition groups aren't. Which makes sense since the majority would be the one benefiting from it. The socialists were particularly incensed about the proposal.

The thing that I found the most interesting was the manner in which debate was carried out. The President of the Assemblée Nationale presides over debate, but he does not hold a neutral stance. You could see he was somewhat favoring the socialists today, at one point even arguing with a right wing representative. The other thing I found interesting was the lack of decorum in the room. People were talking over the speaker all of the time, and there was lots of cross-talk in the chamber. It was pretty chaotic! That and only maybe a sixth of the representatives were present. Apparently these "sessions" aren't really to persuade the other delegates, but rather to get some TV time to bring up the issues with the French public. Apparently most of the decisions are made in smaller meetings prior.

It was a very strange contrast to what I'm used to seeing in the States, or in Model UN. And, I was really really happy that I got to see it. It was seriously really cool!