French constitutional law of 23 July 2008
Encyclopedia
The Constitutional law on the Modernisation of the Institutions of the Fifth Republic was enacted into French constitutional law by the Parliament of France
in July 2008, to reform state institutions.
's manifesto during the French presidential election of 2007
, the changes hope to modernise the institutions of the Fifth Republic
. The Comité de réflexion et de proposition sur la modernisation et le rééquilibrage des institutions, (literally : "A committee of reflection and proposal on the modernisation and the re-balancing of the institutions"), presided over by Édouard Balladur
, a former Prime Minister, was established in July 2007. It was composed primarily of constitutional jurists and political personalities with legal
competence. Following three months of work, it submitted its report to the President of the Republic on the 29th of October 2007.
This resulted in (a bill
), which was proposed to the parliament, then approved by the National Assembly on 9 July 2008 and by the Senate on the 17th.
The bill re-evaluated the role of parliament and augmented the executive's powers. Some of the proposals were not ratified, such as the introduction of Proportional representation
for elections of the National Assembly, the ban on dual mandates (Cumul des mandats
), nor the reform of representation in the Senate. Others clauses, such as a two-term limit for the President of the Republic were added.
The final vote was submitted to Congress
on the 21 July 2008 and ratified by only one vote more than the required three-fifths (60%) majority of votes cast. The press drew attention to the aye vote of Jack Lang
, who had broken his party whip. The President of the National Assembly, Bernard Accoyer
, also voted, which defied the tradition whereby the President of a sitting abstains from voting. Without those two votes the bill would not have passed.
The text of the law received the Great Seal of France
on 1 October 2008.
.
Legislative file from the Senate
Parliament of France
The French Parliament is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate and the National Assembly . Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at a separate location in Paris: the Palais du Luxembourg for the Senate, the Palais Bourbon for the National Assembly.Each...
in July 2008, to reform state institutions.
History
Proposed in Nicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
's manifesto during the French presidential election of 2007
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...
, the changes hope to modernise the institutions of the Fifth Republic
French Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
. The Comité de réflexion et de proposition sur la modernisation et le rééquilibrage des institutions, (literally : "A committee of reflection and proposal on the modernisation and the re-balancing of the institutions"), presided over by Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 29 March 1993 to 10 May 1995.-Biography:Balladur was born in İzmir, Turkey, to an Armenian Catholic family with five children and long-standing ties to France...
, a former Prime Minister, was established in July 2007. It was composed primarily of constitutional jurists and political personalities with legal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
competence. Following three months of work, it submitted its report to the President of the Republic on the 29th of October 2007.
This resulted in (a bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
), which was proposed to the parliament, then approved by the National Assembly on 9 July 2008 and by the Senate on the 17th.
The bill re-evaluated the role of parliament and augmented the executive's powers. Some of the proposals were not ratified, such as the introduction of Proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
for elections of the National Assembly, the ban on dual mandates (Cumul des mandats
Cumul des mandats
The cumul des mandats , is a political practice that has evidenced itself in modern French politics. It consists of holding several political offices at multiple levels of government...
), nor the reform of representation in the Senate. Others clauses, such as a two-term limit for the President of the Republic were added.
The final vote was submitted to Congress
Congress of France
The French Congress is the name given to the body created when both houses of the present-day French Parliament—the National Assembly and the Senate—meet at the Palace of Versailles to vote on revisions to the Constitution or to listen to an address by the President of the French...
on the 21 July 2008 and ratified by only one vote more than the required three-fifths (60%) majority of votes cast. The press drew attention to the aye vote of Jack Lang
Jack Lang (French politician)
Jack Mathieu Émile Lang is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party, he served as France's Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and 1988 to 1992, and as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002. He was also the Mayor of Blois from 1989 to 2000...
, who had broken his party whip. The President of the National Assembly, Bernard Accoyer
Bernard Accoyer
Bernard Accoyer is a French politician who is currently the President of the National Assembly of France, as well as the Mayor of Annecy-le-Vieux.-Biography:...
, also voted, which defied the tradition whereby the President of a sitting abstains from voting. Without those two votes the bill would not have passed.
The text of the law received the Great Seal of France
Great Seal of France
The Great Seal of France is the official seal of the French Republic.- Description :The Great Seal features Liberty personnified as a seated Juno wearing a crown with seven arches. She holds a fasces and is supported by a ship's tiller with a cock carved or printed on it. At her feet is a vase...
on 1 October 2008.
Modifications
In the following translation, where appropriate, a direct English equivalent of the French term is used. Otherwise, in order to make the terminology intelligible to at least some English speakers, terms used in the United Kingdom parliament are substituted. For example une assemblée is the equivalent of a house of the U.K. parliament. Only rarely, is equivalence complete. For example, the Senate of France is in only some respects, the equivalent of the House of LordsHouse of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
- Article 1.
-
- addition of the following paragraph: "The law favours the equal access of women and men to electoral mandates and elective functions, just as to professional and social responsibilities".
- Article 3.
- suppression of the last paragraph: "The law favours the equal access of women and men to electoral mandates and elective functions".
- Article 4.
- replacement of the second paragraph by: "They contribute to the implementation of the principle enunciated in the second paragraph of the first article in conditions determined by the law".
- addition of the following paragraph: "The law guarantees pluralist expressions of opinion and the equitable participation of parties and political groupings to the democratic life of the Nation".
- Article 6. : Definition of president of the French Republic.
- The president of the Republic may not henceforth exercise more than two consecutive periods in office.
- Article 11. : referendumReferendumA referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
- The process of referendum may also be about questions of environmental order.
- Possibility for one fifth of the members of Parliament, supported by one tenth of registered electors, to ask for the holding of a referendum on one of the subjects foreseen in this article. That request would constitute the object of a proposition of law, such that Parliament could oppose the holding of the referendum, from it to a reading of the text.
- Article 13. : nominations by the Head of State.
- Parliamentary commissions may oppose presidential nominations.
- Article 16. : full powers of the Head of State.
- Limitation of the exceptional power of the President of the Republic after 30 and 60 days of exercise in exceptional circumstances.
- Article 17 : law of favour.
- The right of favour may no longer be exercised by the president of the Republic, except in individual title. Collective favour is henceforward not possible for him.
- Article 18 : communication by the president of the Republic with Parliament.
- The president of the Republic may convene the Congress of the French parliament in order to make a declaration. A debate may follow his declaration, without his presence.
- Article 24 : composition of Parliament.
- The number of deputies and of senators is fixed by the constitution. French citizens resident abroad are henceforth represented in the Senate and in the National Assembly.
- Article 25 : organisation of the election of members of Parliament.
- Members of Parliament are replaced temporarily in case of acceptance by them of government office.
- New paragraph : "An independent commission, of which the law fixes the composition and rules of organisation and working, publishes a decision by a public notice concerning parliamentary bills relating to text and propositions of law delimiting parliamentary constituencies (U.S. districts) for the election of deputies or modifying the distribution of seats of deputies or senators".
- Article 34 : definition of the law.
- The law henceforth determines the rules concerning "liberty, pluralism and the independence of the media".
- The law henceforth determines the rules concerning the electoral regime of local authorities and of the representative authorities of French citizens established outside France as well as the conditions for exercising electoral mandates and electoral functions by members of local councils.
- The penultimate paragraph is replaced by the following two paragraphs : "Laws on programming determining the purpose of the State's actions" and "long term tendencies of public finances are defined by the programming laws. They fall within the objective of balancing the accounts of public services".
- An article 34-1 is added. It permits the assemblies to vote resolutions under conditions set by organic law, on condition that they should not call the government's responsibility into question, nor should they contain orders to it (the government).
- The government should henceforth inform Parliament of any decision it may take to cause armed forces to intervene abroad, at the latest three days after the beginning of the intervention. It specifies the objectives pursued. This information may give rise to a debate not followed by a vote. When the intervention lasts more than four months, the government submits any prolongation to the authorisation of Parliament. In the last resort, it may ask the National Assembly to decide.
- Article 38 : manner of functioning of the ordinancesOrdonnance (French constitutional law)In the Government of France, an ordonnance is a statute passed by the Council of Ministers in an area of law normally reserved for statute law passed by the Parliament of France....
.- Ordinances may no longer be ratified other than in the formal manner.
- Article 42 : Vote on the law
- The discussion of the bills and propositions of law are no longer taken before the first assembly referred on the text presented by the government, but on the text adopted by the commission to which it is referred, with the exception of bills for constitutional revision, for finance law, and for financing social security.
- A delay of six weeks should pass between the deposit of the bill or of the proposal and the discussion of the text, except in case of urgency
- Article 47-2 : new article on the Court of Audit (Cour des comptes)
- The Court of Audit assists Parliament in the control of the action of the government. It assists Parliament and the government in the control and execution of finance laws and the social security financing laws as well as in the evaluation of public policies. It helps to inform the electorate by publishing public reports.
- The public administration accounts must be regular and sincere, and give a faithful picture of the results of their management, of their property and of their financial situation.
- Article 48 : order of the day (order paper) of the assemblies (houses).
- The assemblies now set their order papers themselves, independently of the government.
- Two weeks of session out of four are reserved by priority, and in the order decided by the government, for the examination of texts and for debates which it asks to have written into the order paper.
- The government may write into the order paper, by priority, the discussion of financial law bills, bills on social security financing laws and subject to reserve, texts sent by the other assembly at least six weeks before, bills relating to states of crisis and requests for authorization envisaged by article 35.
- Article 49 paragraph 3 : mechanism for referring a bill back.
- Article 51-1 : new article on the parliamentary groups
- In each assembly, the rights of the parliamentary groups are henceforth set by their ruling.
- This same ruling must recognize the specific rights of opposition groups of the relevant assembly as well as those of minority groups.
- Article 51-2 : new article on commissions of enquiry
- For the exercise of missions of control and evaluation, defined in the first paragraph of article 24, commissions of enquiry may now be created within each assembly in order to gather, under the conditions envisaged by the law, elements of information.
- Their rules of organization and operation are determined by the law.
- Their conditions of creation are determined by the ruling of each assembly.
- Article 61 : constitutional recourse.
- Those responsible have henceforth, the possibility of contesting the constitutionality of a measure to which they are opposed, creating thereby the possibility of constitutional review a posteriori (reasoning from experience). Previously, the constitutionality of a law was reviewed solely a priori, without the benefit of practical experience of its application and the abuses potentially associated with it. Also provides the possibility of constitutional review with respect to jurisprudence that is, judicial precedent, an interpretation by one or more judges. Requests are however, screened by the Court of CassationCourt of Cassation (France)The French Supreme Court of Judicature is France's court of last resort having jurisdiction over all matters triable in the judicial stream but only scope of review to determine a miscarriage of justice or certify a question of law based solely on points of law...
(supreme court of appeal) and by the Council of State which decide on sending the appeal to the Constitutional CouncilConstitutional Council of FranceThe Constitutional Council is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958, and its duty is to ensure that the principles and rules of the constitution are upheld.Its main activity is to rule on whether proposed...
. - In the case of a referendum (see article 11), control of the law proposition by the Constitutional Council before its presentation to the people. This control concerns only law propositions, that is to say those of legislative provenance, and thus only new dispositions of article 11 introduced by the constitutional law of 23 July 2008. A proposal of law submitted to referendum will not therefore always be controlled (judgement of the Constitutional Council of 6 November 1962).
- Those responsible have henceforth, the possibility of contesting the constitutionality of a measure to which they are opposed, creating thereby the possibility of constitutional review a posteriori (reasoning from experience). Previously, the constitutionality of a law was reviewed solely a priori, without the benefit of practical experience of its application and the abuses potentially associated with it. Also provides the possibility of constitutional review with respect to jurisprudence that is, judicial precedent, an interpretation by one or more judges. Requests are however, screened by the Court of Cassation
- Title XI : the Economic and Social CouncilFrench Economic and Social CouncilThe Economic, Social and Environmental Council of France is a consultative assembly...
becomes the Economic, social and Environmental Council.- Matters may now be presented to them in the form of a petition.
- The government and Parliament may now consult it on any problem of an environmental character. Any plan or parliamentary bill on planning law, with an environmental character is henceforth, submitted to it for advice.
- The number of its members may not now exceed two hundred and thirty three.
- Title XI b : The Defender of Rights is created with a new Article 71-1.
- The Defender of Rights watches over respect for rights and liberties by state administrations, local authorities, public establishments, also by all organisations with a public service mission, or with regard to which organic law attributes competence.
- Any citizen considering himself wronged in one of these areas may submit it as a matter of course.
- He may be assisted by a college for the exercise of certain parts of his remit.
- Nominated by the president of the Republic for a mandate of six years (non-renewable), he may not be part of the government nor of Parliament. He accounts for his activities to the latter and to the head of State.
- Article 75-1 : new article
- The regional languages form part of the French heritage.
- Article 87 : new article on francophonie
- The Republic participates henceforth in development of solidarity and cooperation between states and peoples which share the French languageFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
- The Republic participates henceforth in development of solidarity and cooperation between states and peoples which share the French language
- Article 88-4 : relations between the European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and Parliament.- Each assembly should now have a commission charged with European affairs.
- Article 88-5 : a state's membership of the European Union.
- Bills authorizing ratification of a treaty concerning a state's membership of the European Union are always submitted to a referendum by the president of the Republic. However, by the vote of a motion adopted in identical terms by each assembly, by a three-fifths majority, Parliament may henceforth authorize the adoption of a bill according to the procedure envisaged by the third paragraph of article 89.
Details of the vote
The votes of the parliamentarians met in Congress were distributed as follows. :| Number of voters | Votes cast | Required majority | Yes votes | No votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 905 | 896 | 538 | 539 | 357 |
| Party group | For | Against | Abstention | Non-voters | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union for a Popular Movement Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party... |
310 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 317 | |
| Socialist, Radical and Citizen Socialist, Radical, Citizen and Miscellaneous Left The Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche - is a French parliamentary group formed on the June 26, 2007 in the National Assembly. It brings together the left wing of French politics, uniting the centre-left Socialist Party with the Radical Party of the Left, Citizen and Republican... |
10 | 194 | 0 | 0 | 204 | |
| Democratic and Republican Left | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |
| New Centre New Centre New Centre , also known as the European Social Liberal Party is a centre-right political party in France, formed by the members of the Union for French Democracy – including a majority of former parliamentarians – who did not agree with François Bayrou's... |
23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | |
| Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits are Members of the European Parliament who do not sit in one of the recognized political groups.... |
1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| TOTAL | 344 | 230 | 2 | 0 | 576 |
| Party group | For | Against | Abstention | Non-voters | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union for a Popular Movement Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party... |
158 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 159 | |
| Socialist Socialist Party (France) The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement... |
0 | 95 | 0 | 0 | 95 | |
| Centrist Union-UDF Centrist Union The Centrist Union is a current parliamentary group in the French Senate founded in 1983. As of April 2009, the UC group has 29 Senators.Since the 2008 Senate elections, the group is known as the Centrist Union. Prior to that, between 2005 and 2008, it was known as the Centrist Union-Union for... |
24 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 30 | |
| Communist, Republican and Citizen Communist, Republican, Citizen, and Senators of the Left Party Group The Communist, Republican, Citizen, and Senators of the Left Party Group is a French parliamentary group, one of six in the French Senate. It is the successor to the Communist Group. In November 2008, Jean-Luc Mélenchon left the Socialist Party and formed the Left Party... |
0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 23 | |
| RDSE European Democratic and Social Rally The European Democratic and Social Rally is a social-liberal parliamentary group representing the Radical tradition in the French Senate.-Chamber of Deputies:... |
11 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 17 | |
| Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits are Members of the European Parliament who do not sit in one of the recognized political groups.... |
2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| TOTAL | 195 | 127 | 7 | 1 | 330 |
External links
Legislative file from the National AssemblyFrench National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
Legislative file from the Senate