French government

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National emblem of France

The government of the French Republic consists of the Prime Minister, the (State) Ministers as well as the Deputy Ministers ( ministres délégués or ministre auprès du ministre ) and the State Secretaries (secrétaires d'Etat) who report to the respective ministers.

From May 2017 to June 2017, the Philippe I cabinet ruled and from June 2017 the Philippe II cabinet ruled under Prime Minister Édouard Philippe . The most powerful person in the French political system is the French President ; since May 2017 this has been Emmanuel Macron .

appointment

The government members are appointed by the President, the ministers and other members of the government (assigned ministers, state secretaries) on the proposal of the previously appointed prime minister. The government remains in office until she resigns; the constitution does not provide for a term of office. The government must resign if the National Assembly expresses its suspicion. The president, on the other hand, cannot dismiss the government on his own initiative, but only if it declares its resignation. In France, however, it is a convention that the government resigns when a state president takes office . It is also customary for the government to step down the day after the second round of elections to the National Assembly, even if it has won a parliamentary majority.

In the course of the appointment of a new government, the departmental responsibilities are usually redefined. The order in which members of the government are listed on the list of appointments is also the protocol-based order of priority; Formally, however, the members of the individual hierarchical levels are on an equal footing with one another.

position

The position of the government in the political system depends heavily on the political affiliation of the president in conjunction with the majority of the national assembly. If the political direction of the President is also the parliamentary majority, the policy is largely determined by the President; the prime minister and his cabinet then have an above all executive role. In this constellation, it is also common for the government to resign at the request of the President, even if he has no formal means of forcing a resignation. If, on the other hand, a different political direction in parliament than that to which the president belongs (a so-called cohabitation ), the government under the leadership of the prime minister essentially determines domestic politics. The president's influence is then limited to the powers he is entitled to under the constitution in foreign and defense policy.

French governments are usually relatively short-lived: the Cazeneuve cabinet is already the 39th government of the fifth republic , which has existed since 1958 , which results in an average term of office of the previous governments of around one and a half years. This is less an expression of unstable political conditions than the conventions in French politics: the terms of office of the President and the National Assembly, which varied in length until 2002, and the convention that the government resigns after a new election of the President or the National Assembly resulted in "automatically" shorter ones Terms of office. The election of the President and the National Assembly, which has taken place in close succession since 2002, has led to transitional governments that only serve for a month or two and are then appointed, mostly unchanged. In addition, it is common in France for a major government reshuffle to be undertaken by resigning and appointing a new government. Often several successive governments are led by the same prime minister, resulting in greater continuity in governance than the multitude of governments suggests. The longest existing government to date was the Jospin government, which ruled from 1997 to 2002 for a total of 4 years and 338 days.

composition

There can be up to six hierarchical levels in the French government:

  1. Prime minister (premier ministre)
  2. Minister of State (ministres d'Etat) : This is an honorary title for particularly distinguished members of the government. State ministers are also appointed as ministers for a department.
  3. minister
  4. Deputy ministers ( ministres délégués , ministres auprès d'un ministre or ministres chargés de… ): Deputy ministers are subordinate to a minister, with a specific area of ​​responsibility assigned to them.
  5. State secretaries (secrétaires d'Etat) : State secretaries are subordinate to a minister, and they are assigned a specific area of ​​responsibility. Their position is weaker than that of the minister assigned.
  6. High commissioners (hauts commissaires) : High commissioners are appointed for particularly prominent thematic tasks in the government. The post was created for the first governments of François Fillon; this function had previously existed in the governments of the Third and Fourth Republic.

Often not all hierarchical levels are occupied. The Ayrault II cabinet (June 2012 to March 2014) consisted of only the prime minister, ministers and assigned ministers, while the Valls II cabinet only consisted of prime ministers, ministers and state secretaries.

The meetings of the government, the so-called Council of Ministers (Conseil des ministres) , take place under the leadership of the President. The prime minister, ministers and assigned ministers always take part in them and the state secretaries only take part if their department is affected.

Incompatibilities, sideline activities

Membership in the government is incompatible with membership in the Senate or the National Assembly . This incompatibility becomes definitively effective one month after the appointment to the government; Government members are already prohibited from voting beforehand. In the case of a majority vote, the deputies are replaced by a representative (suppléant) nominated for the election or by the next person on the list in the case of list elections. If MPs leave the government again, they can resume their mandate after one month, and the representative then leaves Parliament. This regulation has been in effect since 2011, before members of the government left parliament for good.

Government members are also prohibited from any other professional activity, as is the representation of associations at national level. In contrast, municipal and regional mandates and functions may be exercised. This accumulation is controversial in France. The Jospin government was strictly forbidden from accumulating such mandates and functions, which subsequent governments gradually restricted. President François Hollande called on the members of his governments not to exercise any executive office at any other state level. However, since 2015 Jean-Yves Le Drian has been President of the Regional Council of Brittany in addition to his position as Foreign Minister.

French governments since 1958

Governments before 1958

please refer

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the Assemblée nationale: Article LO176 of the Code électoral; for the Senate: Article 319 (majority vote) or Article 320 (election by list) of the Code électoral