How many signatures must a petition collect to be debated in the National Assembly?

Alexandre Dalifard 17:48 pm, March 26, 2023

What impact can a petition have? While the tenth day of mobilization against the pension reform takes place this Tuesday, the BRAV-M (brigades for the repression of motorized violent action) has been at the heart of controversies over the violent repression of demonstrations for several days. Faced with this, a petition for the dissolution of this unit was published on Thursday on the platform of petitions to the National Assembly. This Saturday, nearly 40,000 signatures have already been collected. But concretely, when can a petition be debated in the Chamber?

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500,000 signatures for a debate in public session

"The police repression that is falling on our country must lead to putting back on the agenda the imperative dismantling of the BRAV-M. The country is suffocating with testimonies of violent and brutal abuses committed by these motorized brigades against demonstrators who are trying to make their opposition to a project of social regression heard," said the petition published Thursday on the petition platform of the National Assembly. Regarding the online, "petitions that have collected more than 100,000 signatures are put online on the official website of the National Assembly, in a dedicated section, in order to increase their visibility," says the website of the hemicycle. Thereafter, petitions have only one year, from this launch, to collect more signatures on the platform.

On the other hand, for the Conference of Presidents of the National Assembly to decide to hold a debate in public session on a petition examined in committee, it must meet two conditions. "The petition must be signed by more than 500,000 people domiciled in at least 30 overseas departments or communities" and it "must be formulated by the president of the competent committee or a president of a political group," says the website of the National Assembly.

Questioned on the subject, the prefect of police Laurent Nuñez said Saturday that the dismantling of the BRAV-M is "obviously not on the agenda". "The behavior of a few individuals should not cast opprobrium on an entire unit that, in recent years, and especially at this time, proves all its usefulness," said the prefect on France Info.