2024 vision for Monaco National Council

The elected representatives will be working with the Government on key issues in the Principality.

The press gathered at the National Council for the traditional New Year’s greetings, on Thursday 18 January. An opportunity for the Council’s President, Brigitte Boccone-Pagès, together with Franck Lobono, Chairman of the Social Interests and Miscellaneous Affairs Committee, and Fabrice Notari, Chairman of the External Relations Committee, to outline the Assembly’s plans for the coming months.

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Starting with Moneyval. “The Assembly is continuing to move forward, with important bills currently under review. I am referring to new money laundering legislation to comply with Moneyval’s requirements. We have been wholeheartedly committed to this issue, and we all share the hope that these efforts will lead the relevant authorities to recognise that,” she began.

The President also expressed a wish to see the National Council move forward on important issues “such as the much-anticipated creation of maternity leave for the self-employed, following on from the bill we recently adopted on paternity leave, or the company law reform, which is eagerly awaited. Many other subjects will be covered in a legislative timetable that we are currently preparing along with the Government.”

Relations with the Government “calmer now”

These include the new Fontvieille shopping centre, mobility and housing, which are almost always subjects of debate in the Chamber. The President also mentioned that working meetings and plenary study committees involving both the National Council and the Government are already scheduled.

Brigitte Boccone-Pagès also pointed out that since the start of the tenure, the elected representatives have voted over fifteen bills and two Budgets, and confirmed that relations with the Government are calmer now: “When we take a stance that may seem rather firm, asking the Government to show full respect for the elected representatives, it’s not political grandstanding but a reasonable request to uphold both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, which enshrines the agreement of volitions between the Prince and the National Council, by which we represent the expectations and needs of the population. The most recent budget debates are a perfect illustration of this. Despite not obtaining satisfactory answers to questions relating to major works, mobility, the Fontvieille district or housing, we nevertheless reached an agreement: yes, we would vote in favour of the preliminary budget so as not to paralyse our institutions, but the Government would provide us with a supplementary budget in the spring, with a concrete update on these fundamental issues for the Principality. (…) Between now and the supplementary budget in the spring, we will move forward in a positive frame of mind, but we will also be watchful to ensure that the assurances given to us in the public session are honoured.”