Acts

Rules of Procedure

XIV. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND THE GOVERNMENT

1. Election of the Government

Article 190

The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall circulate the nomination of a candidate for the office of Prime Minister among the Deputies.

Article 191

After a candidate for the office of Prime Minister present his/her platform and proposed composition of the Government at a National Assembly sitting, debate shall be opened on the candidate for the office of Prime Minister, the presented platform, and candidates for Government Ministers.

Article 192

Immediately after debate concludes, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall convene a Voting Day session for the candidate for the office of Prime Minister and Government Ministers. The proposal to elect candidates for the office of Prime Minister and Government Ministers shall be voted on as one unit, by secret ballot, except if the National Assembly should decide that the vote should be taken openly.
The Government shall be elected if a majority of the total number of Deputies should vote in favour of it.
If the Government should not be elected, the entire procedure shall be repeated.

Article 193

After the election of the Government, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers and Government Ministers shall be sworn in, by reading out the text foreseen by law, and shall then hand the text of the oath, with their signatures affixed thereto, to the Chairperson of the National Assembly.

2. Representation of the Government in the National Assembly

Article 194

The Prime Minister shall be entitled and duty of representing the Government in the National Assembly when any issue falling within its purview is reviewed.
The Government shall designate Government Ministers to represent it with respect to particular issues to be discussed at a sitting of the National Assembly or its Committees.
Only Government Ministers may represent the Government at sittings of the National Assembly and its Committees, with the exception of the Secretary of the Republic Legislation Secretariat when the agenda of the National Assembly includes Bills drafted by the Republic Legislation Secretariat on behalf of the Government.
Representatives of the Government shall take part in activities of the National Assembly in accordance with their powers foreseen by law.

Article 195

The Government may designate agents to provide expert and other explanations at sittings of National Assembly Committees.

Article 196

The Government shall inform the National Assembly of its representatives and agents to attend sittings of the National Assembly and its Committees; such information shall be attached to any Bill, proposal of other regulation or by-law, or other material submitted by it to the National Assembly.

Article 197

In order to enable the Government to exercise its rights and perform its duties in the National Assembly, the National Assembly and its Committees shall inform the Government and the appropriate Ministries about their respective sittings and the issues to be considered at such sittings.

3. Parliamentary Questions

Article 198

Any Deputy shall be entitled to pose a parliamentary question, relating to an issue from their purview, to a particular Minister or to the Government as a whole.
Parliamentary questions must be clearly worded.
Parliamentary questions shall be addressed to the appropriate Minister or to the Government as a whole.
Parliamentary questions shall be posed either in writing or verbally; however, any statement by the Deputy asking the questions may not last more than three (3) minutes.
A parliamentary question may also be asked in between two National Assembly sittings, in writing, through the Chairperson of the National Assembly, who shall transmit it to the appropriate Minister or to the Government.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall caution the Deputy asking the parliamentary question if the question posed by him/her has not been posed in accordance with provisions of the present Rules of Procedure, or if it has not been addressed to the appropriate body.

Article 199

Parliamentary questions shall, as a rule, be posed after the National Assembly completes its proceedings on all items on the agenda. In addition, the National Assembly may also, without debate, determine another time for posing parliamentary questions.

Article 200

If the parliamentary question is posed verbally, the Government or the Minister in question shall immediately provide a verbal reply. If the reply requires some preparation, this fact shall immediately be explained, while a reply shall be forwarded to the Deputy in writing within eight (8) days from the date when the question was asked.
The written reply of the Government or the appropriate Minister shall be communicated to Deputies.
Exceptionally, if the preparation of the reply to a parliamentary question requires a lengthy investigation, or calls for more detailed analysis, the deadline for replying to a parliamentary question may be extended, but not by more than thirty (30) days.

Article 201

After the reply to a parliamentary question has been given, the Deputy who has asked the question shall be entitled to make a comment lasting up to five (5) minutes on the reply to his/her question or to ask a supplementary question.
When he/she has obtained a reply to his/her supplementary question, the Deputy shall be entitled to comment on the reply, to last not longer than five (5) minutes.

Article 202

If the reply to a parliamentary question should contain data considered state, military or official secret, the Minister or the Government may propose that the reply should be heard in camera.

4. Motion of No Confidence in the Government; Resignation of Government

Article 203

A minimum of twenty (20) Deputies may submit a motion of no confidence in the Government or one of the Ministers.
The motion shall be submitted in writing to the Chairperson of the National Assembly.
The motion shall specify the reason why motion of no confidence vote is proposed.
The motion shall specify one representative of the proposer. Failing that, the first undersigned Deputy shall be considered the representative of the proposer.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall immediately forward the motion to the Prime Minister or Government Minister, and to the Deputies.

Article 204

A sitting of the National Assembly to consider a motion of no confidence in the Government or one of the Ministers shall be held not sooner than upon the expiry of a three-day deadline and not later than fifteen (15) days after the date when the motion of no confidence was submitted.
At the outset of the sitting, the representative of the proposer shall be entitled to explain the motion of no confidence in the Government, while the Prime Minister, or Government Minister, shall be entitled of reply.
Provisions of the present Rules of Procedure referring to the length of a sitting at which a Bill is debated shall apply to any sitting at which a motion of no confidence in the Government or one of the Ministers is debated.
Immediately after debate on the motion of no confidence in the Government concludes, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall convene a Voting Day session.
A motion of no confidence in the Government or a Government Minister may not be proposed again at the same National Assembly session.

Article 205

The Government shall be entitled to propose a motion of no confidence to the National Assembly in writing, and shall be entitled to explain it.
The motion of no confidence shall be proposed by the Prime Minister on behalf of the Government.
The Prime Minister shall submit the motion for dismissal of a Government minister in writing to the Chairperson of the National Assembly, and shall be entitled to explain it.
Provisions of the present Rules of Procedure applying to the procedure of discussing a motion of no confidence in the Government proposed by Deputies shall apply appropriately to the procedure of discussing a motion of no confidence proposed by the Government, or to the procedure of dismissal of individual Government Ministers.

Article 206

When a motion of no confidence in the Government or a Government Minister is carried by the National Assembly, it shall adopt a decision on dismissal. The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall immediately inform the President of the Republic thereof.

Article 207

The Government or an individual Government Minister shall tender its/his/her resignation in writing to the Chairperson of the National Assembly and shall be entitled to explain it.
The resignation of the Prime Minister shall cause the resignation of the entire Government.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall without delay inform the President of the Republic and the Deputies of the resignation of the Government; he/she shall inform the Prime Minister and the Deputies of the resignation of a Government Minister.
At its first next sitting, the National Assembly shall note without debate that the Government or a Government Minister has resigned and no decision shall be taken thereof.

Article 208

The Government or a Government Member, as well as each Deputy signing a motion of no confidence in the Government, shall be entitled to withdraw the motion for dismissal, or resignation, until a decision on dismissal has been adopted, or the resignation taken note of.
If the motion of no confidence in the Government or in any of its Ministers should be withdrawn by the Deputies, so that the number of Deputies who have proposed the motion of no confidence in the Government is no longer more than twenty (20), the motion shall be considered withdrawn.

5. Interpellation of the National Assembly on Actions of the Government

Article 209

A minimum of twenty (20) Deputies may submit an interpellation requesting debate on a specific matter regarding actions of the Government or Ministers.
Not more than five interpellations may be submitted at one National Assembly session.

Article 210

An interpellation shall be submitted in writing.
An interpellation must contain a clearly worded and summarised question to be considered, a proposal for the outcome of the debate on the interpellation, an explanation not more than two typed pages long, and the name of the authorised representative of the proposers of the interpellation.
The interpellation shall be signed by the Deputies who submitted it.

Article 211

The text of the interpellation must comply with provisions of the present Rules of Procedure.
The interpellation shall be submitted to the Chairperson of the National Assembly, who shall forward it to the Administrative Committee for assessing compliance with provisions of the present Rules of Procedure.
If the interpellation text should contain expletives or other expressions injuring the dignity of the National Assembly and the Deputies, the Administrative Committee shall request the proposer of the interpellation to harmonise it with provisions of the present Rules of Procedure within fifteen (15) days.
If the proposer of interpellation should fail to correct the text of the interpellation, the interpellation shall be considered withdrawn.

Article 212

Upon receiving the report from the Administrative Committee, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall forward the interpellation to the Deputies and the Prime Minister.

Article 213

The Government shall review the interpellation and communicate its opinion regarding it to the Chairperson of National Assembly not later than thirty (30) days after receiving the interpellation.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall immediately communicate the opinion of the Government to the Deputies.

Article 214

The interpellation shall be included in the agenda of the first next sitting of the National Assembly, which shall be held within fifteen (15) days from the day the Government communicated its opinion regarding the interpellation.
If the Government should fail to communicate its opinion regarding the interpellation within the deadline defined in Article 209, Paragraph 1 of the present Rules of Procedure, the interpellation shall be included, as the last item, in the agenda for the next sitting of the National Assembly, which shall be held at the latest fifteen (15) days after the expiry of the deadline.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly may propose that the interpellation should be discussed as the last item of the agenda at an ongoing National Assembly sitting, and the National Assembly shall vote on such proposal without debate.
The National Assembly may decide to debate the interpellation at an extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly.

Article 215

The representative of a proposer of an interpellation shall be entitled to present the interpellation at a sitting of the National Assembly.
The Prime Minister or the Minister the interpellation refers to shall communicate the opinion of the Government regarding the interpellation at a sitting of the National Assembly.
Provisions of the present Rules of Procedure on debate on Bills shall apply accordingly to sittings of the National Assembly discussing interpellations.

Article 216

A debate about an interpellation may end in an opinion being adopted regarding the matter raised in the interpellation, or in voting for moving onto the next item on the agenda.
If it should be proposed that the debate about an interpellation should end in voting for moving onto the next item on the agenda without a position being adopted regarding the matter raised in the interpellation, the Prime Minister may state his/her opinion in the matter. If the Prime Minister should agree with moving onto the next item, and there are other proposals, this proposal shall be voted on first.
If the proposal referred to in Paragraph 2 of the present Article should not be adopted, the National Assembly shall vote on other proposals in the order of their submission.

Article 217

A debate about an interpellation shall end at the same sitting at which it has been opened.
A submitted interpellation may be withdrawn until voting on it has started.
An interpellation regarding the same matter may not be submitted again during the same sitting of the National Assembly.

6. Informing the National Assembly of Government Activities

Article 218

The Government shall inform the National Assembly about its activities, and, in particular, about the pursuit of policies, enforcement of laws, other regulations and by-laws, implementation of development plans and zoning plans, and about the implementation of the Republic's budget.
The Government shall submit reports to the National Assembly when so requested by the National Assembly or at its own initiative, and at least once every year.
The National Assembly may decide, at the proposal of a Committee, without a debate, to request from the Government a report on its activities, i.e. a report whereby the Government shall inform the National Assembly on policy issues and enforcement of laws, other regulations and by-laws in a particular field.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall forward the report of the Government, immediately upon receiving it, to the Deputies for their information.
The National Assembly may decide, at the motion of a Committee reviewing the report of the Government, to have the report also considered at a sitting of the National Assembly.