JoeyStarr and Ségolène Royal mobilize against the project for a new entrance pavilion to the National Assembly

Here is a new project that is causing debate. Suspended since February due to strong criticism of its timeliness, style and cost, the project to build a new entrance pavilion for the National Assembly was discreetly relaunched in mid-July. Estimated to cost around fifty million euros, it provides for the construction of an ultra-modern building of 4,000 square meters, which would replace the small building built in 1888 on the banks of the Seine, to the right of the main facade. Since the presentation of the first sketches, defended by the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet in the spring of 2025, the project has sparked an outcry from heritage defense associations. Notably Sites et Monuments, which launched a petition several months ago now collecting more than 62,000 signatures.

The case has been relaunched since the deliberation of the Council of Paris which, on a favorable opinion from Emmanuel Grégoire, voted to modify the safeguarding and development plan of 7^e district of Paris. The outlines of this text have until now prevented the viability of the project, in particular because of the height which clashes with the architecture of the district.

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Contacted Tuesday by Le Figaro, the president of the association, Julien Lacaze, does not lose his temper. “This new glass building would unbalance the historically neoclassical, masterful, mineral and horizontal landscape of the place, judge Julien Lacaze. We cannot replace the current entrance in this way, which is in perfect condition. It is steeped in parliamentary history and symbolizes distrustful democracy, because it was built after the assassination attempt on Jules Ferry. » 

 

For Macronists, as soon as it’s thunderous, it’s great

Julien Lacaze, president of Sites and Monuments

According to the deliberations of the Paris Council, “the planned constructions are indeed in keeping with dimensions close to those of the already existing buildings and have been designed while respecting the architectural and heritage characteristics of the site.” Julien Lacaze evokes a “forceful passage” and a “lack of exemplarity on the part of the National Assembly”. “If the government circumvents urban planning laws, how can we make the population respect them? », he asks himself. Sites and Monuments also accuses Yaël Braun-Pivet of having chosen the architectural project “as demonstrative and rude as possible to welcome as many visitors as possible to the Assembly”. “There were better, more minimalist ones, explains Julien Lacaze. For Macronists, as soon as it’s thunderous, it’s great. »Other criticisms relate to the cost of the project. “ In times of budgetary scarcity, doesn’t the Assembly have better things to do than spend public money to disfigure a historic site? “, Sites and Monuments are outraged. The Assembly responded, however, that the work would be entirely financed from its own funds, without government funding.

Ségolène Royal prefers air conditioners for hospitals

Among the opponents of the project, Ségolène Royal was quick to react. “This waste of public money is indeed scandalous and must stop, wrote the former Minister of the Environment on social networks. How much is the equivalent of air conditioners for schools and hospitals? » In this same message, she adds that Yaël Braun-Pivet “does not own the premises” and we must stop “this sort of privatization of one of the most emblematic historical monuments in Paris. » “Just order means everyone has their own task, just their task, without excesses or waste while respecting skills and responsibilities”, she concludes.

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The secrets of the National Assembly

Emile Meunier, green co-president of the Nouveau Paris Populaire (LFI) group at Paris City Hall, described the architecture of the building as “a sort of Apple Store built right next to the Palais Bourbon”. The elected official congratulated himself on having represented “the only group on the left to have opposed this project in the name of respect for heritage, institutions and ecology”. Sites et Monuments also benefited from the unexpected support of JoeyStarr, the star rapper of the legendary group Supreme NTM. The Parisian artist has not become widespread. He simply reshared the video, commenting ironically “sweet France”. The association thanked him by responding “no one wants this project, except Yaël Braun-Pivet.”

The presidency of the National Assembly hopes to see the construction completed before 2028. And, above all, the work undertaken before the end of the legislature, legislative elections being highly probable at the end of the spring presidential election, whoever the winner. Before the suspension, in February, several million euros were spent on architectural firm fees or launching and awarding contracts, reported a few months ago The Chained Duck. After consultation with the architect of Bâtiments de France and the local commission for remarkable heritage sites by the prefect of Île-de-France, the proposed modification of the safeguarding and enhancement plan of 7^e district of Paris must be the subject of a public inquiry, then be definitively approved by order of the prefect.