The Constitutional law on the Modernisation of the Institutions of the Fifth Republic (french: link=no, loi constitutionnelle de modernisation des institutions de la V
e République) was enacted into French constitutional law by the
Parliament of France
The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris: ...
in July 2008, to reform state institutions.
The
Defender of Rights
Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to:
*Defense (military)
*Defense (sports)
**Defender (association football)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary
* ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...
was established in this law.
History
Proposed in
Nicolas Sarkozy's manifesto during the
French presidential election of 2007, the stated goal of the changes was 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
Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, c ...
, a former Prime Minister, was established in July 2007. It was composed primarily of constitutional
jurists
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...
and political personalities with legal competence. Following three months of work, it submitted its report to the
President of the Republic on 29 October 2007.
This resulted in a
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
, which was approved by the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
on 9 July 2008 and by the Senate on the 17th.
The bill re-evaluated the role of the executive and augmented the parliament's powers. Some of the proposals were not ratified, such as the introduction of
Proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
for elections of the National Assembly, the ban on
dual mandates (''
Cumul des mandats
A dual mandate is the practice in which elected officials serve in more than one elected or other public position simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain and ''cumul des mandats'' in France; not to be confused ...
''), 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
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
on 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 with his
party whip
A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...
. 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
The Great Seal of France (french: Grand Sceau de la République française) is the official seal of the French Republic. After the 1792 revolution established the First French Republic, the insignia of the monarchy was removed from the seal. Ove ...
on 1 October 2008.
Amendments
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
The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...
is in only some respects the equivalent of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
.
*
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:
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
s
**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: presidential pardons.
** The right of pardon may no longer be exercised by the president of the Republic, except in individual title. Collective pardon is henceforward not possible.
*
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
Article 25 is a UK-based international NGO and registered charity that manages sustainable architecture projects in areas of extreme poverty and disaster. Article 25 works with other INGO partners to design and deliver hospitals, schools and ho ...
: 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
quivalent to U.S. electoral districts/nowiki> 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 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 ordinances.
** 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 A Court of Audit or Court of Accounts is a Supreme audit institution, i.e. a government institution performing financial and/or legal audit (i.e. Statutory audit or External audit) on the executive branch of power.
See also
*Most of those in ...
(''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 group
A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council.
Parliamenta ...
s
** 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. 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
A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...
(supreme court of appeal) and by the Council of State
A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...
which decide on sending the appeal to the Constitutional Council Constitutional Council might refer to:
* Constitutional Council (Chad)
* Constitutional Council (France)
* Constitutional Council (Ivory Coast)
* Constitutional Council (Sri Lanka)
* Constitutional Council (Cambodia)
* Constitutional Council (Kaz ...
.
** 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).
* Title XI: the Economic and Social Council 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 members may not now exceed 233.
* 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
*
A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area.
Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Lan ...
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 language.
* Article 88-4: relations between the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
and Parliament.
** Each assembly should now have a commission charged with European affairs.
* Article 88-5: new state membership in the European Union.
** Bills authorizing ratification of a treaty concerning the membership of a new state in 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.:[ Website of the Assemblée Nationale]
Details of the public scrutiny of the Constitutional Law for the modernisation of the institutions of the Fifth Republic.
/ref>
Timeline of French constitutions
Notes and references
Bibliography
* Revue française de droit constitutionnel,
', n°78-2009/2
External links
*
Legislative file
from the National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
* {{in lang, fr}
Legislative file
from the Senate
Constitutional amendments
Government of France
Constitutional amendments under the French Fifth Republic
Legal history of France
Reform in France
2008 in France
2008 in law