Understanding the Conseil National, Monaco's Parliament

Overview

The Conseil National is the Parliament of the Principality. Under article 4 of the Constitution of 17 December 1962 (revised in 2002), legislative power is exercised jointly by the Sovereign Prince and the Conseil National: no law can be passed without the agreement of both. It is a single chamber of 24 members elected for five years, and it alone deliberates and votes on laws and on the State budget.

What it is not is a Westminster-style parliament. The Government is not drawn from the assembly, does not need its confidence and cannot be overturned by it. Understanding that balance is the key to reading Monegasque politics.

Who elects it

The electorate is small and strictly defined: every Monegasque national aged 18 or over who has not been stripped of civic rights by a court. That is roughly 9,000 people out of a population of about 39,000. Foreign residents, French nationals included, do not vote in any Monegasque election, however long they have lived in the Principality — see our guide to voting and elections and, for how nationality is acquired, the Monaco citizenship guide.

To stand as a candidate you must be Monegasque, at least 25 years old and have held the nationality for at least five years (article 54 of the Constitution).

How the 24 seats are allocated

Elections are held in a single round with a mixed system that is unusual in Europe:

• 16 seats (two thirds) go to the 16 candidates with the most votes across the whole Principality — a plurality vote with a single national constituency, no districts.
• 8 seats (one third) are shared between the lists by proportional representation, using the highest-average method, among lists that obtained at least 5 % of the votes.
• Candidates run on lists of at least 13 names, but voters are not bound by them: panachage is allowed, so an elector can strike names off a list or add names from a rival list. Personalised voting is a Monegasque tradition.

At the last election, on 5 February 2023, L'Union Nationale Monégasque — formed by the merger of Priorité Monaco, Horizon Monaco and Union Monégasque — took all 24 seats with 89.6 % of the votes; the only rival list, Nouvelles Idées pour Monaco, won none. Of 7,594 registered electors, 57.3 % voted. Since then a three-member minority group, En avant Monaco, has formed inside the chamber. The next election is due in early 2028.

Presidency and Bureau

Every year, at the public sitting that opens the spring session, the councillors elect their President and Vice-President and appoint committee members. Thomas Brezzo has been President since 3 April 2024 and was re-elected on 2 April 2026 (20 votes out of 24); Jean-Louis Grinda is Vice-President. The Conseil National sets its own agenda, except for bills the Government declares urgent and for extraordinary sessions convened by the Prince.

The two annual sessions

The assembly sits in two ordinary sessions of three months each:

• Spring session, 1 April to 30 June — devoted exclusively to legislation.
• Autumn session, 1 October to 31 December — devoted first to the State budget (the budget rectificatif for the current year and the budget primitif for the next), plus any bills the assembly chooses to schedule. It is traditionally the heavier of the two.

Extraordinary sessions can be convened between them by the Prince, or by the President at the request of at least two thirds of the members.

How a law is made

• Bills (projets de loi) come from the Government. Private members' bills (propositions de loi) come from councillors, but they cannot become law directly: full legislative initiative belongs to the Prince. Once the assembly adopts a proposition, the Government has six months to either turn it into a bill or announce that it will not (article 67).
• Every text is first examined in committee, which produces a report; the assembly then debates the report in a public sitting and adopts or rejects the text.
• The right of amendment belongs to the Conseil National alone. The Government's only counter is to withdraw its bill. Monegasque law-making therefore rests on negotiated agreement between the two institutions rather than on majority rule.
• The budget is voted in legislative form, which gives the assembly its main lever over Government policy.
• A constitutional revision requires the agreement of both the Prince and the Conseil National.

Treaties and the public domain

Since the 2002 revision, the Conseil National is informed of international treaties after signature and before ratification (article 14). A law is required before ratification when a treaty affects the constitutional organisation, modifies existing legislation, brings Monaco into an international organisation whose functioning involves its parliamentarians, creates an unforeseen budgetary charge or establishes a new contribution — though the assembly cannot amend such ratification bills.

Because the public domain is inalienable (article 33), removing a plot from it — as has been done repeatedly since 2003 to free land for State housing — also requires a law voted by the assembly.

Committees

Real parliamentary work happens in committee. Every councillor must sit on at least one of the four standing committees:

• Finance and National Economy
• Social Interests and Miscellaneous Affairs
• Legislation
• External Relations

Special committees, created by absolute majority at the start of the spring session, currently cover education, youth and sport; housing; women's and family rights and equality; culture and heritage; environment and quality of life; digital development; monitoring of the EU negotiation; monitoring of the Constitutional Reserve Fund and public-accounts modernisation; and the assembly's own rules of procedure.

Where it sits and how to reach it

The Conseil National sits in its own building on the Rock, opposite the Chapelle de la Visitation and a few minutes from the Prince's Palace — not in the Palais de Justice.

• Address: 2 place de la Visitation, Monaco-Ville (see the Monaco-Ville district page)
• Phone: +377 93 30 41 15 · Email: info@conseil-national.mc
• Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30–18:30, and during public sittings
• Elected members: each councillor has a public address in the form firstname.surname@conseil-national.mc
• National priority questions (housing, employment): priorite.nationale@conseil-national.mc, +377 97 98 74 74
• Website: conseil-national.mc — agendas, bills in progress, adopted laws and the video archive of sittings (CN TV)

The assembly also runs a Conseil National des Jeunes, a youth parliament for pupils of the Principality's schools, with an annual session.

Not to be confused with

• The Conseil Communal is the 15-member municipal council that runs the Mairie de Monaco; it is also elected by Monegasques, but for four years and for local matters only.
• The Conseil de Gouvernement is the executive: the Minister of State and the Government councillor-ministers appointed by the Prince. For the full picture, read our guide to Monaco's institutions and the overview of the legal system.

Key points

• 24 members, five-year term, Monegasque voters only (about 9,000 electors).
• One-round mixed vote: 16 plurality seats, 8 proportional seats, panachage allowed.
• Two sessions a year: legislation in spring, budget in autumn.
• Laws need the agreement of both the Prince and the assembly; the assembly alone can amend, the Prince alone initiates.
• The Government answers to the Prince, not to Parliament; only the Prince can dissolve the assembly.
• Last election 5 February 2023; next due early 2028.