France: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: President Francois Hollande
Head of Government: Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault

The constitution of the Fifth Republic was approved by public referendum on September 28, 1958. It greatly strengthened the powers of the executive in relation to those of Parliament. Under this constitution, presidents were elected directly for a 7-year term. Beginning in 2002, the presidential term of office was reduced to 5 years, and a constitutional reform passed on July 21, 2008 limits presidents to two consecutive terms in office. The next presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for 2012.

The main components of France's executive branch are the president, the prime minister and government, and the permanent bureaucracies of the many ministries. The president names the prime minister, presides over the cabinet, commands the armed forces, and concludes treaties. The president can submit questions to a national referendum and can dissolve the National Assembly. In certain emergency situations, with the approval of Parliament, the president may assume dictatorial powers and rule by decree. Led by a prime minister, who is the head of government, the cabinet is composed of a varying number of ministers, ministers-delegate, and secretaries of state. Traditionally, presidents under the Fifth Republic tended to leave day-to-day policy-making to the prime minister and government, and the 5-year term of office was expected to make presidents more accountable for the results of domestic policies. Nicolas Sarkozy has been a hands-on manager and policymaker.

Parliament meets for one 9-month session each year. Under special circumstances the president can call an additional session. Under the constitution, the legislative branch has few checks on executive power; nevertheless, the National Assembly can still cause a government to fall if an absolute majority of the total Assembly membership votes to censure. The Parliament is bicameral, with a National Assembly and a Senate. The National Assembly is the principal legislative body. Its deputies are directly elected to 5-year terms, and all seats are voted on in each election. Senators are chosen by an electoral college and, under new rules passed in 2003 to shorten the term, serve for 6 years, with one-half of the Senate being renewed every 3 years. (As a transitional measure in 2004, 62 Senators were elected to 9-year terms, while 61 were elected to 6-year terms; subsequently, all terms will be 6 years.) The Senate's legislative powers are limited; the National Assembly has the last word in the event of a disagreement between the two houses. The government has a strong influence in shaping the agenda of Parliament, although the constitutional reform passed in July 2008 granted new authority to the Parliament to set its own agenda. The government also can declare a bill to be a question of confidence, thereby linking its continued existence to the passage of the legislative text; unless a motion of censure is introduced and voted, the text is considered adopted without a vote. The constitutional reform passed in July 2008 limited the process to the vote of the national budget, the financing of the social security, and to one bill per session of the Parliament. As of September 2009, impact assessment is mandatory for all draft laws going to the Council of State and the Parliament.

A distinctive feature of the French judicial system is that the Constitutional Council protects basic rights when they might be potentially violated by new laws, and the Council of State protects basic rights when they might be violated by actions of the state. The Constitutional Council examines legislation and decides whether it conforms to the constitution. Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, it considers only legislation that is referred to it by Parliament, the prime minister, or the president. Moreover, it considers legislation before it is promulgated. The Council of State has a separate function from the Constitutional Council and provides recourse to individual citizens who have claims against the administration. The Ordinary Courts--including specialized bodies such as the police court, the criminal court, the correctional tribunal, the commercial court, and the industrial court--settle disputes that arise between citizens, as well as disputes that arise between citizens and corporations. The Court of Appeals reviews cases judged by the Ordinary Courts.

Traditionally, decision-making in France has been highly centralized, with each of France's departments headed by a prefect appointed by the central government. In 1982, the national government passed legislation to decentralize authority by giving a wide range of administrative and fiscal powers to local elected officials. In March 1986, regional councils were directly elected for the first time, and the process of decentralization continues, albeit at a slow pace.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Nicolas Sarkozy assumed office on May 16, 2007 as France's sixth president under the Fifth Republic. In the April 22, 2007 first round of presidential elections, Sarkozy, the leader of the center-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, placed first; Socialist candidate Segolene Royal placed second; centrist Francois Bayrou placed third; and extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen placed fourth out of a field of 12 candidates. Sarkozy prevailed in the May 6, 2007 second round, defeating Royal by a 53.06% to 46.94% margin. Royal's loss marked the third straight defeat for the Socialist candidate in presidential elections.

In electing Nicolas Sarkozy, French voters endorsed the wide-ranging program of reforms--including market-oriented social and economic reforms--that were the focal point of his campaign, implicitly giving him the green light to try and implement these reforms quickly, and allowing a way forward for overcoming France's 2005 rejection of the EU constitutional treaty. By embracing a figure long tagged as "pro-American," French voters also expressed their desire to renew trust in the U.S.-France relationship. During the campaign Sarkozy often ended his stump speeches--evoking Martin Luther King--by calling for a "French dream" of social equality, social mobility, and equal opportunity, and his first speech as President-elect assured his "American friends" that they could rely on France's friendship. After his inauguration, President Sarkozy focused his first months in office on improving the performance of France's economy through liberalization of labor markets, higher education, and taxes.

Legislative elections held on June 10 and 17, 2007 gave the UMP a large parliamentary majority. The UMP reinforced its ascendance over the Socialists by winning the June 7, 2009 European Parliament election with 27.88% of the vote, an increase of more than 11 percentage points over 2004. The Socialists finished a distant second, in a virtual tie with Europe Ecology, the French Green party. In the March 2010 regional elections, however, the Socialist Party won a majority of seats in 21 of the 22 regions of mainland France, marking a definitive resurgence for the main opposition party.

On September 14, 2010 the French Senate voted 246 to 1 in favor of prohibiting the concealing of one’s face in public, such as with burqas. In a decision published October 7, 2010, the Constitutional Council, France’s highest constitutional court, held that the law is mostly in conformity with the French constitution. The sole limitation imposed by the court is in public places of worship, where the court found the law’s application would unduly interfere with the free exercise of religion. The law, which went into effect April 11, 2011 and enjoys broad support from the French population, imposes a fine of 150 euros ($212) on violators and/or requires taking a course in citizenship.

On October 27, 2010 France’s National Assembly voted 336 to 233 in favor of President Sarkozy’s controversial pension reform bill. Before it came to a vote, there were widespread strikes and protests in September and October over the bill's proposals. The provision drawing the most ire increases the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 for a partial pension and from 65 to 67 for a full pension.

In the fourth government reshuffle in a year, President Sarkozy announced a significant shift in three ministries on February 27, 2011. Alain Juppe, Defense Minister since November 2010, took over the Foreign Ministry from Michele Alliot-Marie; Conservative Senator Gerard Longuet took over the Defense Ministry from Juppe; and Claude Gueant was named Minister of the Interior, replacing Brice Hortefeux.

On March 20 and 27, 2011 France held “cantonal” (local) elections to elect members of departmental councils. Amid record low turnout of 44%, President Sarkozy’s center-right UMP fared poorly in the first round of elections. With 99% of the votes counted, the Socialist Party placed first with 25% of the first-round vote nationwide, the UMP was second with 17%, and the National Front (FN) was third with 15%, according to Ministry of Interior figures. Taken together, center-left parties won about 48% of the first-round vote while the center-right (without the FN) garnered about 32%. The center-left also won in the second round, forming a Socialist-Greens-Front de Gauche coalition and winning 61 of 101 departmental councils.

The next presidential election will occur in two rounds of voting on April 22 and May 6, 2012. Legislative elections will follow a few weeks later. Political parties and some candidates are beginning to position themselves for the campaign. President Sarkozy is expected to seek reelection, although he has made no official announcement. The main opposition Socialist Party (PS) has yet to decide on a candidate; the deadline for candidacy declarations for the PS is July 13, 2011, and the party will conduct primaries in October. Meanwhile, a partial Senate election will occur in France on September 25 via the indirect, electoral college-style system.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
France plays an influential global role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO, the G-8, the G-20, the EU, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the WTO, la Francophonie, and other multilateral institutions. Among NATO members, France is second only to the United States in terms of troops deployed abroad. In 2011, President Sarkozy led the call for military intervention in Libya, and France took a leading role in the international community's efforts. France took over leadership of the G-20 on November 1, 2010 and of the G-8 on January 1, 2011. France’s priorities during the G-20 presidency include structural reforms, such as pension reform, investments in infrastructure and education, and improved financial sector regulations, including global reforms. President Sarkozy has been a strong proponent of UN Security Council expansion, including the need for one or more permanent seats for Africa.

A charter member of the United Nations, France is a member of most of its specialized and related agencies. France is also America's oldest ally; French military intervention was instrumental in helping Britain's American colonies establish independence. Because many battles in which the United States was involved during World War I and World War II took place in France, more American soldiers have been killed on French soil than on that of any other foreign country.

France is a leader in Western Europe because of its size, location, and large economy, membership in European organizations, strong military posture, and energetic diplomacy. France generally has worked to strengthen the global economic and political influence of the EU and its role in common European defense. It views Franco-German cooperation and the development of a Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) with other EU members as the foundation of efforts to enhance European security.

France supports Quartet (U.S.-EU-Russia-UN) efforts to implement the Middle East roadmap, which envisions establishment of a Palestinian state, living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive peace agreement, France supports the involvement of all Arab parties and Israel in a multilateral peace process. France also supports an easing of the Gaza blockade, stating that it will serve the interest of all parties concerned in the conflict. Since coming to office in 2007, President Sarkozy has worked hard to elevate France’s status as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. France has raised the status of the Palestinian Authority’s representatives in Paris from “delegation” to a “diplomatic mission” led by an Ambassador.

Since 2006, France has actively and repeatedly publicly stressed the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran and worked with the U.S. and other members of the P5+1 group (China, Russia, the U.K., the U.S., and Germany) to demand that Iran end its enrichment-related and preprocessing activities. In June 2010 France actively supported and voted for UNSC Resolution (UNSCR) 1929 regarding sanctions on Iran, as a means to persuade Iran to live up to its international obligations. In May 2009, France opened its first permanent military base in the Gulf region, in the United Arab Emirates.

France continues to play an important role in Africa, especially in its former colonies, through aid programs, commercial activities, military agreements, and cultural impact. The Sarkozy government announced a change in its sub-Saharan African policy shortly after it came to power, intending to modernize and rationalize relations in a future-oriented manner. The French military presence in Africa is diminishing, with an increased emphasis on cooperating with Africa's sub-regional organizations such as Southern African Development Community (SADC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). France has closed its former military base in Cote d’Ivoire and downsized its base in Senegal, while maintaining its bases in Gabon and Djibouti and its long-term deployment in Chad. Despite these reductions in its military presence, France is likely to continue to play an important role in promoting stability in the region. French support to the Government of Chad was crucial in 2008 in fending off a rebel attack, and in 2007, France played a leading role in the EU's formation of a peacekeeping mission in Chad and the Central African Republic designed to complement international efforts in Sudan and Darfur. France played an important role in ensuring a transition to democracy in Guinea in 2010. It was a leading member of the international community's efforts to support the United Nations and to give effect to 2010 elections in Cote d'Ivoire, which culminated in the entry into office of democratically elected President Alassane Ouattara in April 2011; Ouattara was formally inaugurated in May.

Beginning in Tunisia in December 2010, massive protests demanding democratic reform gave rise to a wave of movements in other countries known as the “Arab Spring,” trends that Foreign Minister Juppe called “irreversible,” saying the situation offered “an excellent opportunity that we should not be afraid of.” Uprisings in Libya against Colonel Mu'ammar Qaddafi resulted in a state-sponsored campaign of brutal and deadly repression against Libya’s own citizens. President Sarkozy strongly condemned these actions and called for Qaddafi to step aside. On February 23, Sarkozy suspended all economic and financial relations with Libya. March 17, 2011 marked the beginning of the UN-sanctioned no-fly zone in Libya. International coalition operations against Qaddafi’s ground forces and enforcement of the no-fly zone are ongoing, with France continuing to take a leading role.

France has extensive political and commercial relations with Asian countries, including those of Southeast Asia, China, and Japan, as well as an increasing presence in regional forums. It has strong links to Vietnam, a former French colony, and there is a large Vietnamese community in Paris. The country was an architect of the 1991 Paris Accords, which ended the conflict in Cambodia. France is seeking to broaden its commercial presence in China and will pose a competitive challenge to U.S. business, particularly in aerospace, high-tech, and luxury markets. France has strong trade relations and good overall ties with Japan. Japan often looks to France for support in areas such as North Korean denuclearization, relations with China, and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Maintaining close contact with the French also allows Japan a better understanding of Africa, where France has a much larger presence.

The Government of France responded quickly to the 2011 Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster diplomatically, financially, and with humanitarian aid. French Economics Minister Lagarde led the call for a meeting of G-7 central bankers and finance ministers to discuss how to provide financial and monetary support to Japan, mainly through buying Japanese bonds. President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon established a working group for Japan with senior ministers, nuclear agencies, and nuclear industry representatives to determine how best to respond to the crisis and assist with recovery. Additionally, Government of France-controlled utility provider Electricite de France (EDF) sent advanced, post-Chernobyl-designed robots to Japan to help monitor radiation, remove wreckage, and perform other tasks related to post-disaster relief.

Sources: