Generally on France

France is a unitary state, but it has

legal subdivisions ( region
departments and communes) that
have various attributions and the
national government is prohibited
from intruding into their legal
.operations
government of France is a semi The-
presidential systemwhich is a mixture of
.parliamentary and presidential systems
determined by the frenchIt is-
constitution of
the fifth republic, in which the nation
declares itself to be "an
indivisible,secular,democratic, and social
republic". The constitution provides for a
seperation of powers and proclaims
France's "attachment to the rights of
man and the principles of national
sovreignty as defined by the declaration
of 1789’’. The French national
:The French executive

It is comprised of a president, a prime

minister and a cabinet. Both the
president and the prime minister
have real power but most of the
executive power resides in his
.appointee, the prime minister
 The president of the French
:republic
The president is the only directly elected political
official who is chosen by the entire french
.electorate

To be eligible to run, one has to be:

-A french citizen.
.-Atleast 23 years of age

.The president is allowed re-election without limit

The office of vice president doesn’t exist in
france, however if the president dies in office,
the presiden of the senate acts as interim
president and a presidential election is held
 :Tasks of the president
:The President
Names and appoints the prime minister )1
Appoints the cabinet memebers chosen by the prime )2
. minister
Appoints the high ranks in civil,military and judicial )3
officials. )He appoints 3 out of 9 judges of the
.) constitutional council
Appoints the french ambassadors and acredits the )4
. foreign ambassadors of france
Presides over the )5gouvernement.) )cabinet of ministers
Commands the armed forces and has exclusive control )6
. over the nuclear forces of france
.Concludes treaties and conducts foreign affairs )7
Submit questions to national referendums and can )8
dissolve the national assembly )if he did so, he can’t do it
.)again for a year

In certain emergencies the President may assume special, )9

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, however he can refer any parliamentary
.bill to the constitutional council

He can, with the prime minister’s approval, propose )10

constitutional amendments but the 2 chambers of
parliament must approve, following which it must be
ratified by either a national referendum or a three fifths
.vote of the 2 chambers together as a congress
 :Note that

The president does appoint the prime

minister but he often has to choose the
head of the majority party in the
parliament and he can’t de jure dismiss
him howeverif the Prime Minister is from
the same political side, the president 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
 The election of the
:president
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
 Executive-issued
regulations and legislation
Only the President and Prime Minister sign decrees
(décrets), which are akin to US executive orders.
Decrees can only be taken following certain
procedures and with due respect to the constitution
.and statute law

The President signs decrees naming and dismissing

most senior civil and military servants, for positions
.listed in the Constitution or in Statutes

He also signs decrees establishing some regulations

(décrets en conseil des ministres). All such decrees
must be countersigned by the Prime Minister and the
.ministers concerned
 :Note that
There are differences between executive
decrees
: and legislative laws

Decrees are limited in use and subject of.1

matter
Decrees don’t take a long legislative process.2

and are revised by the prime minister and

the ministers concerned while that’s not
done
:Note

Neither the president nor the prime

minister may rule by decree (outside
of the narrow case of presidential
.(emergency powers
Rule by decree is a style of
governance allowing quick,
unchallenged creation of law by a
single person or group, and is used
primarily by dictators and absolute
.monarchs
 Ordinances
:((ordonnances
The executive cannot issue decrees in areas
that the Constitution puts under the
.responsibility of the Parliament
Still, Parliament may authorize the executive to
issue ordinances (ordonnances ), which are
regulations adopted by the executive in a
domain normally reserved for statute law with
.legislative value, in precisely defined areas
The Parliament can do so through Habilitation
laws, which are the Discretionary Power of the
Executive
 :More on ordiances
After the ordinance is issued, Parliament is asked.1
whether it wants to ratify it. If Parliament votes no to
ratification, the ordinance is cancelled. Most of the
time, ratification is made implicitly or explicitly through
a Parliament act that deals with the subject
.concerned, rather than by the ratification act itself

The use of ordinances is often reserved for urgent.2

matters, or for technical, uncontroversial texts (such
as the ordinances that converted all sums in French
.(Francs to Euros in the various laws in force in France
They are also sometimes used to push controversial
.legislation through
 :Differences in legal terms
.Legislation: laws made by the parliament.1
Statute:.2 a formal, written law of a country or state,
written and enacted by its legislative authority,
perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in
the government, and finally published. Typically,
.(.statutes command, prohibit, or declare policy
The terms are used interchangeably but there are
.technical differences
decree: an executive issued law narrowed in use and.3
.scope by the constitution
ordiance: an executive issued law demanded by the.4
parliament as it is in an area which the constitution
.doesn’t allow the government to intervene in
 Internal limits of the executive
branch (problems and checks
:(and balances
All the powers of the president are.1
subject to countersigning ("contreseing")
by the Prime Minister, except in a few
cases such as the dissolution of the
.National Assembly
sometimes the President's political.2
opponents control parliament, the
President's dominance can be severely
limited, as he must choose a Prime
Minister(de facto) and cabinet who reflect
the majority in parliament, and who will
 :A resulted problem
Cohabitation: in government occurs in semi-
presidential systems, such as France's system,
when the President is from a different political
party from the majority of the members of
parliament. It occurs because such a system
forces the president to name a premier (prime
minister) that will be acceptable to the
majority party within parliament and to him.
Thus,it occurs because of the duality of the
executive: An independently elected President
and a premier who must be acceptable both to
.this president and to the legislature
 cohabitation

In france:Cohabitation used to happen

from time to time before 2002, because
the mandate of the President was 7 years
and the mandate of theAssemblée
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
 Back to limitations and
:problems
The general rule is that government
agencies and the civil service are at
the disposal of thegouvernement, or
cabinet. However, various agencies
are independent agencies (autorités
administratives indépendantes)
that have been statutorily excluded
from the executive's authority,
although they belong in the
.executive branch
 :Examples of such agencies
The Banque de France, the central bank, is.1 •
independent (financial and economic code,
L141 and following). This was a prerequisite for
integrating the European System of Central
.Banks
The Electronic Communications & Posts.2 •
Regulation Authority (Autorité de régulation
des communications électroniques et des
postes (ARCEP)), which was previously named
Telecommunication Regulation Authority
(Autorité de régulation des
télécommunications (ART)), is an independent
administrative authority for the open markets
The National Commission on.3 •

Campaign Accounts and Political

Financing ( Commission Nationale des
Comptes de Campagne et des
Financements Politiques) regulates the
financing and spending of political
.parties and political campaign
Public media corporations should not be.4
influenced in their news reporting by the
executive in power, since they have the duty to
supply the public with unbiased information. For
instance, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) is an
independent public corporation. Its resources
must come solely from its commercial sales.
The majority of the seats in its board are held
.by representatives of the French press

The government also provides for watchdogs.5

over its own activities; these independent
administrative authorities are headed by a
commission typically composed of senior
lawyers or members of the Parliament. Each of
the two chambers of the Parliament often has
its own commission, but sometimes they
 Benefits of these independent
:agencies
These independent agencies have some.1
specialized regulatory power, some executive
power, and some quasi-judicial
power(essentially judicial in character but not
within the judicial power or function especially
.(as constitutionally defined
They are also often consulted by the.2
government or the French Parliament seeking
.advice before regulating by law
They can impose sanctions that are named.3
"administrative sanctions" sanctions
administratives. However, their decisions can
still be contested face to a judicial court or an