HIBAPRESS – w.m.a.
The House of Councillors concluded, on Tuesday, the first session of the legislative year 2025-2026 of the eleventh legislative term (2021-2026).
In a speech on the occasion, the Speaker of the Council, Mohamed Ould Er-Rachid, reviewed the main features of the outcome of the work of the House of Councillors during this legislative session, whether at the level of legislation, oversight, evaluation of public policies, or institutional relations, including the tangible results of the parliamentary diplomacy of the Council, which, according to his expression, contributed effectively to strengthening the Kingdom's position regionally and internationally and defending its just national causes.
In this context, Ould Er-Rachid pointed out that the Council approved, through twelve legislative sessions, seventeen draft laws concerning priority topics related to the public interest, including three organizational draft laws, and four ordinary draft laws presented to the Council in a second reading, in addition to the fact that four draft laws were presented to the Council with precedence in accordance with the provisions of Article 78 of the Constitution.
He praised the keenness of the parliamentary councilors to perform an effective and productive legislative role regarding the various texts presented to the Council, which is particularly evident in the overall outcome of the amendments submitted during this session, as well as in the distinguished outcome recorded by the permanent committees of the Council.
He explained that the number of amendments proposed by the members of the Council during this session reached 1222 amendments, of which 271 were accepted, and 595 amendments were withdrawn, within the framework of interaction with the interpretations provided as well as consolidating the consensus approach regarding the formulas of legislative texts aimed at achieving the public interest, while the number of amendments rejected by vote reached 356 amendments.
As for the work of the permanent committees, the Speaker of the House of Councillors added, 72 meetings were held during this session, with a total of working hours approaching 240 hours, in which legislative works took over the outcome of the work of the permanent committees, without preventing them from holding study days on issues presented to them, to listen to the opinions of professionals, academics, and some constitutional institutions.
At the level of the general sessions, the Council held 34 general sessions during this session, including 3 joint sessions with the House of Representatives, the most prominent of which was the joint general session held on November 3, to deliberate on Resolution No. 2797 issued by the United Nations Security Council on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara.
The Council also held 14 weekly sessions for oral questions, during which 25 government sectors were questioned, where social issues occupied a large part of the councilors' discussions, through the continuous follow-up of the outputs of the sectoral social dialogues, in addition to the files related to the developments of pension systems reform, reducing unemployment among youth, valuing home work for women, and public policies directed to youth.
At the level of parliamentary diplomacy, Ould Er-Rachid highlighted that the House of Councillors continued during this session, thanks to the effective involvement of all its components, to consolidate bilateral and multilateral parliamentary cooperation through various geopolitical spaces, in full harmony with the foundations of national diplomacy, in order to defend the strategic and vital issues of the Kingdom, and at the heart of them the national issue.
He affirmed that the House of Councillors will continue during the coming period its parliamentary diplomatic initiatives through important bilateral and multilateral appointments and stations, which fall within the framework of implementing the strategic plan for the half-term 2024-2027, in line with the high directives of King Mohammed VI.
