Authors: Duhamel & Mény
Summary: The French dictionary defines agenda as the list of themes upon which an assembly must decide during one or more debate sessions. The whole entry deals with the French assembleary agenda setting experience and functioning.
Between the French Revolution and 1958 Constitution, French governments had no possibility to influence the parlamentarian agenda, the latter being prerogative of the assembly.
The fifth republic established a priority agenda (formed by governamental issues) beside the existing one, which became the complementary agenda (consisting in parliamentary initiative issues only, as before). This brought to a power rebalancing in agenda setting process between government and parliament: complementary agenda is rarely debated and parliamentay majority issues are included by the government in the priority agenda and discussed.
The Minister of relations with the Parliament is charged with agenda drafting, control and execution, which gives him/her a key role, the parliamentary and, consequently, the political calender depending on it . Finally the difference between the two chambers of the French Parliament (Sânat and Assemblâe Nationale) in respect to the number and duration of debate sessions is stressed.