Politics

The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential republic with strong democratic traditions. The executive branch has two leaders: the President of the Republic, who is elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year term and is the Head of State, and the Government, led by the president-appointed Prime Minister.

The French parliament is a bicameral legislature comprising a National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) and a Senate. The National Assembly deputies represent local constituencies and are directly elected for 5-year terms. The Assembly has the power to dismiss the cabinet, and thus the majority in the Assembly determines the choice of government. Senators are chosen by an electoral college for 6-year terms (originally 9-year terms), and one half of the seats are submitted to election every 3 years starting in September 2008.

The Senate's legislative powers are limited; in the event of disagreement between the two chambers, the National Assembly has the final say, except for constitutional laws and lois organiques (laws that are directly provided for by the constitution) in some cases. The government has a strong influence in shaping the agenda of Parliament.

French politics are characterised by two politically opposed groupings: one left-wing, centred around the French Socialist Party, and the other right-wing, centred around the Rassemblement pour la République (RPR) and its successor the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP). The far right-wing Front National is the third party in France with its share of the vote remaining stable at 16%. The executive branch is currently composed entirely of the UMP.

Constitution

A popular referendum approved the constitution of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, greatly strengthening the authority of the presidency and the executive with respect to Parliament. The constitution does contain a bill of rights in itself, but its preamble mentions that France should follow the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, as well as those of the preamble to the constitution of the Fourth Republic. This has been judged to imply that the principles laid forth in those texts have constitutional value, and that legislation infringing on those principles should be found unconstitutional. Also, a recent modification of the Constitution has added a reference in the preamble to an Environment charter that has full constitutional value.

Among these foundational principles, one may cite: the equality of all citizens before law, and the rejection of special class privileges such as those that existed prior to the French Revolution; presumption of innocence; freedom of speech; freedom of opinion including freedom of religion; the guarantee of property against arbitrary seizure; the accountability of government agents to the citizenry.

Executive Branch

France has an original system with an executive branch headed by two officials: the President and the Prime Minister.

President of the Republic

Under the constitution, the President was originally elected for a seven-year term; this has been reduced to five years. The President names the Prime Minister, presides over the gouvernement (cabinet of ministers), commands the armed forces, and concludes treaties. The President may submit questions to national referenda and can dissolve the National Assembly.

All his powers are subject to countersigning ('contreseing') by the Prime Minister, except dissolving the National Assembly.

In certain emergencies the President may assume special, comprehensive powers. However, in normal times, the President may pass neither legislation nor regulations, though, of course, if the Parliament is from his political side, he may strongly suggest the adoption of certain legislation, or request his Prime Minister to take such or such regulation.

In the original 1958 constitution, the President was elected by an electoral college of elected officials. However, in 1962, Charles de Gaulle obtained, through a referendum, an amendment to the constitution whereby the president would be directly elected by citizens. Given France's runoff voting system, this means that the presidential candidate is required to obtain a nationwide majority of non-blank votes at either the first or second round of balloting, which presumably implies that the president is somewhat supported by at least half of the voting population; this gives him considerable legitimacy. Despite his somewhat restricted de jure powers, the president thus enjoys considerable aura and effective power.

As a consequence, the President is the pre-eminent figure in French politics. He appoints the Prime Minister; though he may not de jure dismiss him, if the Prime Minister is from the same political side, he can, in practice, have him resign on demand (and it is known that Prime Ministers are asked to sign a non-dated dismissal letter before being nominated). He appoints the ministers, ministers-delegate and secretaries. When the President's political party or supporters control parliament, the President is the dominant player in executive action, choosing whomever he wishes for the government, and having it follow his political agenda (parliamentary disagreements do occur, though, even within the same party).

However, when the President's political opponents control parliament, the President's dominance can be severely limited, as he must choose a Prime Minister and cabinet who reflect the majority in parliament, and who will implement the agenda of the parliamentary majority. When parties from opposite ends of the political spectrum control parliament and the presidency, the power-sharing arrangement is known as cohabitation. Cohabitation used to happen from time to time before 2002, because the mandate of the President was 7 years and the mandate of the Assemblée Nationale was 5 years. Now that the mandate of the President has been shortened to 5 years, and that the elections are separated by only a few months, this is less likely to happen.

The Gouvernement

The gouvernement is headed by the Prime Minister. It has at its disposal the civil service, the government agencies and the armed forces. (The term 'cabinet' is rarely used to describe the gouvernement, even in translation, as it is used in French to mean a minister's private office, composed of politically-appointed aides. In French, the word gouvernement can refer to government in general, but generally refers to the cabinet.)

The gouvernement is responsible to Parliament, and the National Assembly may pass a motion of censure, forcing the resignation of the cabinet. This, in practice, forces the gouvernement to be from the same political stripe as the majority in the Assembly. Ministers have to answer questions from members of Parliament, both written and oral; this is known as the questions au gouvernement (questions to the government). In addition, ministers attend meetings of the houses of Parliament when laws pertaining to their areas of responsibility are being discussed.

Government ministers cannot pass legislation without parliamentary approval, though the Prime Minister may issue subordinated regulations (décrets) within certain constraints. Ministers, however, can propose legislation to Parliament; since the Assembly is from the same political stripe as the ministers, such legislation is, in general, very likely to pass. However, this is not guaranteed, and, on occasion, the opinion of the majority parliamentarians may differ significantly from those of the executive, which often results in a large number of amendments.

The Prime Minister can engage the responsibility of his government on a law, under article 49-3 of the Constitution. The law is then considered adopted unless the National Assembly votes a motion of censure, in which case the law is refused and the government has to resign.

Traditionally, the cabinet comprises members of three ranks. Ministers are the most senior members of the government; ministers-delegate (ministres délégués) assist ministers in particular areas of their portfolio; secretaries of state (secrétaires d'État) assist ministers in less important areas, and attend cabinet meetings only occasionally. Before the Fifth Republic, some ministers of particular political importance were called 'ministers of state' (ministres d'État); the practice has continued under the Fifth Republic in a purely honorific fashion: ministers styled Minister of State are considered of a higher importance in the cabinet.

Legislative Branch

The Parliament of France, making up the legislative branch, consists of two houses: the National Assembly and the Senate; the Assembly is the pre-eminent body.

Parliament meets for one 9-month session each year: under special circumstances the president can call an additional session. Although parliamentary powers have diminished from those existing under the Fourth Republic, the National Assembly can still cause a government to fall if an absolute majority of the total Assembly membership votes to censure.

The cabinet has a strong influence in shaping the agenda of Parliament. The government also can link its term to a legislative text which it proposes, and unless a motion of censure is introduced (within 24 hours after the proposal) and passed (within 48 hours of introduction - thus full procedures last at most 72 hours), the text is considered adopted without a vote.

Members of Parliament enjoy parliamentary immunity. Both assemblies have committees that write reports on a variety of topics. If necessary, they can establish parliamentary enquiry commissions with broad investigative power.

National Assembly

The National Assembly is the principal legislative body. Its 577 deputies are directly elected for 5-year terms in local majority votes, and all seats are voted on in each election.

The National Assembly may force the resignation of the executive cabinet by voting a motion of censure. For this reason, the prime minister and his cabinet are necessarily from the dominant party or coalition in the assembly. In the case of a president and assembly from opposing parties, this leads to the situation known as cohabitation. While motions of censure are periodically proposed by the opposition following government actions that it deems highly inappropriate, they are purely rhetorical; party discipline ensures that, throughout a parliamentary term, the government is never overthrown by the Assembly.

Senate

Senators are chosen by an electoral college of about 145,000 local elected officials for 6-year terms, and one half of the Senate is renewed every 3 years. Before the law of 30 July 2004, senators were elected for 9 years, renewed by thirds every 3 years. There are currently 321 senators, but there will be 346 in 2010; 304 represent the metropolitan and overseas départements, five the other dependencies and 12 the French established abroad.

The Senate's legislative powers are limited; on most matters of legislation, the National Assembly has the last word in the event of a disagreement between the two houses.

Since the beginning of the Fifth Republic, the Senate has always had a right-wing majority. This, the indirect mode of election and the inequality of representation with respect to demographics prompted socialist Lionel Jospin, who was prime minister at the time, to declare the Senate an 'anachronism'.

Judiciary

France's political system, in keeping with rule of law, has an independent judiciary, meaning that it has court systems whose decisions are not de jure controlled by the executive or legislative branches. France has a system of civil law, but jurisprudence plays an important role similar to that of case law.

The most distinctive feature of the French judicial system is that it is divided into the judicial and the administrative orders of courts.

Judicial Order

The judicial order of courts judges civil and penal cases. It consists of, in first instance: courts, courts of appeal, and the Cour de cassation at its helm.

Judges are civil servants, but enjoy special statutory protection from the executive. They may not be moved or promoted without their consent. Their careers are overseen by the High Council of the Magistracy.

The prosecution service, on the other hand, responds to the Minister of Justice. This has in the past led to suspicions of pressures to drop litigation against politicians suspected of corruption, and the topic of the status of the prosecutors comes up regularly in political discussions.

Trial by jury is used in the judgment of the most severe crimes, by the Courts of Assizes. The full court - 3 judges and 9 jurors (12 jurors on appeal) - determines first guilt, then, if guilty, the sentence. Jurors are drawn at random from voters' rolls.

Pre-judgment proceedings are inquisitorial, but the actual court appearance is rather adversarial. The burden of proof in criminal proceedings is on the prosecution, and the accused is constitutionally presumed innocent until declared guilty.

Certain specialised courts of first instance are staffed with elected judges. For instance, courts deciding cases of labour law are staffed with an equal number of judges from employers' unions and employees' unions. A similar arrangement holds for courts dealing with rural land leases.

Administrative Order

The Administrative Order of Courts judges most litigations against public bodies. It consists of administrative tribunals, administrative courts of appeals and the Conseil d'État at litigation at its helm.

The Conseil d'État hears cases against executive decisions and has the power to quash governmental decisions and regulations if they do not conform to applicable constitutional or statutory law, or to the general principles of law.

The proceedings are essentially written and inquisitorial, with both parties being called by the judges to explain themselves in writing.

Constitutional Council

Neither the judiciary nor the administrative courts can rule upon the constitutionality of statutory law. While technically not part of the judiciary, the Constitutional Council examines legislation and decides whether it conforms to the constitution and treaties, prior to its promulgation: in all cases for organic laws, and only under referral from the President of the Republic, the president of the Senate, the President of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister or 60 senators or 60 members of the National Assembly for normal laws. The Constitutional Council may refuse statutes as unconstitutional if they contradict the principles of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (cited in the preamble of the Constitution) or the European Convention on Human Rights (accepted by treaty).

The Constitutional Council comprises members appointed for 9 years (3 every 3 years), three members appointed by the President, three members appointed by the President of the National Assembly and three appointed by the President of the Senate.

Military

The French armed forces are divided into four branches:

• Armée de Terre (Army)
• Marine Nationale (Navy)
• Armée de l'Air (Air Force)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Military police)

The gendarmerie is a military police force which serves for the most part as a rural and general purpose police force. Since the Algerian War of Independence, conscription was steadily reduced and was finally suspended in 2001 by Jacques Chirac. The total number of military personnel is approximately 359,000. However, 100,000 of these are in the Gendarmerie, and are thus unfit for external operations.

France spends 2.6% of its GDP on defence, slightly more than the United Kingdom (2.4%), and is the highest in the European Union where defence spending is generally less than 1.5% of GDP. Together they account for 40% of EU defence spending. About 10% of France's defence budget goes towards its force de frappe, or nuclear weapons. A significant part of French military equipment is made in France. Examples include the Rafale fighter, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the Exocet missile and the Leclerc tank. Despite withdrawing from the Eurofighter project, France is actively investing in European joint projects such as the Eurocopter Tiger, multipurpose frigates, the UCAV demonstrator nEUROn and the Airbus A400M.

The French 'Force de Frappe' relies on a complete independence. The current French nuclear force consists of four submarines equipped with M45 ballistic missiles. The current class, the Triomphant class is currently under deployment to replace the former Redoutable class. The M51 will replace the M45 in the future and expand the Triomphants firing range. Aside of the submarines the French dissuasion force uses the Mirage 2000N; it is a variant of the Mirage 2000 and thus is designed to deliver nuclear strikes. With 350 nuclear heads stockpiled France is the world third largest nuclear power.

Foreign Relations

French foreign policy has been largely shaped by membership of the European Union, of which France was a founding member. France is also a member of the United Nations, NATO, the WTO, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), and the Indian Ocean Commission (COI). It is an associate member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and a leading member of the International Francophone Organisation (OIF) of fifty-one fully or partly French-speaking countries. It hosts the headquarters of the OECD, UNESCO, Interpol and the International Bureau for Weights and Measures.