French Fifth Republic

French Republic
République française
Flag National emblem
Motto: "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" (French)
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem: "La Marseillaise"
Location of  France  (dark green)in the European Union  (light green)
Location of  France  (dark green)

in the European Union  (light green)
CapitalParis
48°51.4′N 2°21.05′E / 48.8567°N 2.35083°E / 48.8567; 2.35083
Official languages French
Government Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
 •  President François Hollande
 •  Prime Minister Manuel Valls
Legislature Parliament
 •  Upper house Senate
 •  Lower house National Assembly
Establishment
 •  Current constitution 4 October 1958 (57 years) 
Currency
ISO 3166 code FR

The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958.[1] The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system. It is France's third-longest-enduring political regime, after the pre-revolutionary Ancien Régime and the Third Republic.

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Origins

The trigger for the collapse of the French Fourth Republic was the Algiers crisis of 1958. France was still a colonial power, although conflict and revolt had begun the process of decolonization. French West Africa, French Indochina, and French Algeria still sent representatives to the French parliament under systems of limited suffrage in the French Union. Algeria in particular, despite being the colony with the largest French population, saw rising pressure for separation from the Metropole. The situation was complicated by those in Algeria, such as white settlers, who wanted to stay part of France. The Algerian War was not just a separatist movement but had elements of a civil war. Further complications came when a section of the French Army rebelled and openly backed the "Algérie française" movement to defeat separation.

Charles de Gaulle, who had retired from politics a decade before, placed himself in the midst of the crisis, calling on the nation to suspend the government and create a new constitutional system. De Gaulle was carried to power by the inability of the parliament to choose a government, popular protest, and the last parliament of the Fourth Republic voting for their dissolution and the convening of a constitutional convention. (Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962.)

The Fourth Republic suffered from a lack of political consensus, a weak executive, and governments forming and falling in quick succession since the Second World War. With no party or coalition able to sustain a parliamentary majority, Prime Ministers found themselves unable to risk their political position with unpopular reforms.

De Gaulle and his supporters proposed a system of strong presidents elected for seven-year terms. The President under the proposed constitution would have executive powers to run the country in consultation with a prime minister whom he would appoint. On 1 June 1958, Charles de Gaulle was appointed head of the government;[2] on 3 June 1958, a constitutional law empowered the new government to draft a new constitution of France,[1] and another law granted Charles de Gaulle and his cabinet the power to rule by decree for up to six months, except on certain matters related to the basic rights of citizens (criminal law, etc.).[3] These plans were approved by more than 80% of those who voted in the referendum of 28 September 1958.[4] The new constitution was signed into law on 4 October 1958.[5] Since each new constitution establishes a new republic, France moved from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic.

The new constitution contained transitional clauses (articles 90–92) extending the period of rule by decree until the new institutions were operating. René Coty remained President of the Republic until the new president was proclaimed. On 21 December 1958, Charles de Gaulle was elected President of France by an electoral college.[6] The provisional constitutional commission, acting in lieu of the Constitutional Council, proclaimed the results of the election on 9 January 1959. The new president began his office on that date, appointing Michel Debré as Prime Minister.

The 1958 constitution also replaced the French Union with the French Community, which allowed fourteen member territories (these did not include Algeria) to assert their independence.[7] 1960 became known as the "Year of Africa" because of this wave of newly independent states.[8]

Evolution

The president was initially elected by an electoral college, but in 1962 de Gaulle proposed that the president be directly elected by the citizens, and held a referendum on the change. Although the method and intent of de Gaulle in that referendum were contested by most political groups except for the Gaullists, the change was approved by the French electorate.[9] The Constitutional Council declined to rule on the constitutionality of the referendum.[10]

The president is now elected every five years, changed from seven by a constitutional referendum in 2000, to reduce the probability of cohabitation due to former differences in the length of terms for the National Assembly and Presidency. The President is elected in a two-round system: the first round is open to all candidates and will establish a president if any candidate gets an overall majority; if there is no winner in the first round, the two candidates with the greatest number of votes go to a second round.

Two major changes occurred in the 1970s regarding constitutional checks and balances.[11] Traditionally, France operated according to parliamentary supremacy: no authority was empowered to rule on whether statutes passed by Parliament respected the constitutional rights of the citizens.[12] In 1971, the Constitutional Council, arguing that the preamble of the Constitution referenced the rights defined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the preamble of the 1946 Constitution, concluded that statutes must respect these rights and declared partially unconstitutional a statute because it violated freedom of association.[13] However, only the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, and the President of each house of Parliament could ask for a constitutional review before a statute was signed into law, which greatly reduced the likelihood of such a review if all these officeholders happened to be from the same side of politics, which was the case at the time. In 1974, a constitutional amendment widened this prerogative to 60 members of the National Assembly or 60 members of the Senate.[14] From that date, the opposition has been able to have controversial new statutes examined for constitutionality.[15]

Presidents of the Fifth Republic

Gaullists are in blue, Socialists in pink, centrists in teal.

President Lived from to Party
Charles de Gaulle 1890–1970 8 January 1959 28 April 1969 (resigned) UNR then UDR
Alain Poher 1909–1996 28 April 1969 15 June 1969 (interim) PDM
Georges Pompidou 1911–1974 15 June 1969 2 April 1974 (died in office) UDR
Alain Poher 1909–1996 2 April 1974 19 May 1974 (interim) PDM
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing b. 1926 19 May 1974 21 May 1981 UDF
François Mitterrand 1916–1996 21 May 1981 17 May 1995 Socialist
Jacques Chirac b. 1932 17 May 1995 16 May 2007 RPR then UMP
Nicolas Sarkozy b. 1955 16 May 2007 15 May 2012 UMP
François Hollande b. 1954 15 May 2012 Incumbent Socialist

Prime Ministers of the Fifth Republic

Edith Cresson, the first Female Prime Minister
Name Term start Term end Political Party
Michel Debré 8 January 1959 14 April 1962 UNR
Georges Pompidou 14 April 1962 10 July 1968 UNR
Maurice Couve de Murville 10 July 1968 20 June 1969 UDR
Jacques Chaban-Delmas 20 June 1969 6 July 1972 UDR
Pierre Messmer 6 July 1972 27 May 1974 UDR
Jacques Chirac (1st time) 27 May 1974 26 August 1976 UDR
Raymond Barre 26 August 1976 21 May 1981 UDF
Pierre Mauroy 21 May 1981 17 July 1984 Socialist
Laurent Fabius 17 July 1984 20 March 1986 Socialist
Jacques Chirac (2nd time) 20 March 1986 10 May 1988 RPR
Michel Rocard 10 May 1988 15 May 1991 Socialist
Édith Cresson 15 May 1991 2 April 1992 Socialist
Pierre Bérégovoy 2 April 1992 29 March 1993 Socialist
Édouard Balladur 29 March 1993 18 May 1995 RPR
Alain Juppé 18 May 1995 3 June 1997 RPR
Lionel Jospin 3 June 1997 6 May 2002 Socialist
Jean-Pierre Raffarin 6 May 2002 31 May 2005 UMP
Dominique de Villepin 31 May 2005 17 May 2007 UMP
François Fillon 17 May 2007 15 May 2012 UMP
Jean-Marc Ayrault 15 May 2012 31 March 2014 Socialist
Manuel Valls 31 March 2014 (incumbent) Socialist

Institutions of the Fifth Republic

Institutions of the Fifth Republic
Schema of the flow of power in the Fifth Republic

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Loi constitutionnelle du 3 juin 1958 portant dérogation transitoire aux dispositions de l'article 90 de la Constitution (in French).
  2. ↑ Décret du 1er juin 1958 portant nomination des membres du gouvernement
  3. ↑ Loi no</sup> 58-520 du 3 juin 1958 relative aux pleins pouvoirs (in French).
  4. ↑ Proclamation des résultats des votes émis par le peuple français à l'occasion de sa consultation par voie de référendum, le 28 septembre 1958
  5. ↑ Constitution, Journal Officiel de la République Française, 5 October 1958
  6. ↑ Proclamation des résultats du scrutin du 21 décembre 1958 pour l'élection du Président de la République, Président de la Communauté; text version
  7. ↑ Frederick Cooper, "Possibility and Constraint: African Independence in Historical Perspective", Journal of African History 49(2), http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021853708003915
  8. ↑ Abayomi Azikiwe, "50th Anniversary of the 'Year of Africa' 1960", Pan-African News Wire, 21 April 2010.
  9. ↑ Constitutional Council, Proclamation of the results of the 28 October 1962 referendum on the bill related to the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage
  10. ↑ Constitutional Council, Decision 62-20 DC of 6 November 1962
  11. ↑ F. L. Morton, Judicial Review in France: A Comparative Analysis, The American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Winter, 1988), pp. 89–110
  12. ↑ M. Letourneur, R. Drago, The Rule of Law as Understood in France, The American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring, 1958), pp. 147–177
  13. ↑ Constitutional Council, Decision 71-44 DC of 16 July 1971
  14. ↑ Loi constitutionnelle no</sup> 74-904 du 29 octobre 1974 portant révision de l'article 61 de la Constitution (in French).
  15. ↑ Alain Lancelot, La réforme de 1974, avancée libéral ou progrès de la démocratie ?

Further reading

In French

External links

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