Constitution du 4 octobre 1958
Constitution of October 4, 1958 (JORF No. 0238 of October 5, 1958, page 9151)
Edition: March 3, 2017
Contents
PREAMBLE
First article.
Title I – SOVEREIGNTY
Article 2.
Article 3.
Article 4.
Title II – THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
Article 5.
Article 6.
Article 7.
Article 8.
Article 9.
Article 10.
Article 11.
Article 12.
Article 13.
Article 14.
Article 15.
Article 16.
Article 17.
Article 18.
Article 19.
Title III – THE GOVERNMENT
Article 20.
Article 21.
Article 22.
Article 23.
Title IV – THE PARLIAMENT
Article 24.
Article 25.
Article 26.
Article 27.
Article 28.
Article 29.
Article 30.
Article 31.
Article 32.
Article 33.
Title V – REPORTS BETWEEN PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Article 34.
Article 34-1.
Article 35.
Article 36.
Article 37.
Article 37-1.
Article 38.
Article 39.
Article 40.
Article 41.
Article 42.
Article 43.
Article 44.
Article 45.
Article 46.
Article 47.
Article 47-1.
Article 47-2.
Article 48.
Article 49.
Article 50.
Article 50-1.
Article 51.
Article 51-1.
Article 51-2.
Title VI – TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
Article 52.
Article 53.
Article 53-1.
Article 53-2.
Article 54.
Article 55.
Title VII – THE CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL
Article 56.
Article 57.
Article 58.
Article 59.
Article 60.
Article 61.
Article 61-1.
Article 62.
Article 63.
Title VIII – JUDICIAL AUTHORITY
Article 64.
Article 65.
Article 66.
Article 66-1.
Title IX – THE HIGH COURT
Article 67.
Article 68.
Title X – CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENT MEMBERS
Article 68-1.
Article 68-2.
Article 68-3.
Title XI – THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
Article 69.
Article 70.
Article 71.
Title XI bis – THE DEFENDER OF RIGHTS
Article 71-1.
Title XII – TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES
Article 72.
Article 72-1.
Article 72-2.
Article 72-3.
Article 72-4.
Article 73.
Article 74.
Article 74-1.
Article 75.
Article 75-1.
Title XIII – TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO NEW CALEDONIA
Article 76.
Article 77.
Title XIV – FRANCOPHONIE AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENTS
Article 87.
Article 88.
Title XV – THE EUROPEAN UNION
Article 88-1.
Article 88-2.
Article 88-3.
Article 88-4.
Article 88-5.
Article 88-6.
Article 88-7.
Title XVI – REVISION
Article 89.The French
The Government of the Republic, in accordance with the Constitutional Law of 3 June 1958, has proposed,
The French people adopted,
The President of the Republic promulgates the constitutional law whose content follows:
Le Gouvernement de la Rรฉpublique, conformรฉment ร la loi constitutionnelle du 3 juin 1958, a proposรฉ,
Le peuple franรงais a adoptรฉ,
Le Prรฉsident de la Rรฉpublique promulgue la loi constitutionnelle dont la teneur suit :
PREAMBLE
The French people solemnly proclaim their commitment to human rights and the principles of national sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789 , confirmed and supplemented by the preamble to the 1946 Constitution , as well as the rights of the people. and duties defined in the 2004 Environmental Charter .
By virtue of these principles and of the free determination of the peoples, the Republic offers the Overseas Territories which express the will to adhere to it new institutions based on the common ideal of freedom, equality and equality. fraternity and designed for their democratic evolution.
PRรAMBULE
Le peuple franรงais proclame solennellement son attachement aux Droits de l’homme et aux principes de la souverainetรฉ nationale tels qu’ils ont รฉtรฉ dรฉfinis par la Dรฉclaration de 1789, confirmรฉe et complรฉtรฉe par le prรฉambule de la Constitution de 1946, ainsi qu’aux droits et devoirs dรฉfinis dans la Charte de l’environnement de 2004.
En vertu de ces principes et de celui de la libre dรฉtermination des peuples, la Rรฉpublique offre aux territoires d’Outre-Mer qui manifestent la volontรฉ d’y adhรฉrer des institutions nouvelles fondรฉes sur l’idรฉal commun de libertรฉ, d’รฉgalitรฉ et de fraternitรฉ et conรงues en vue de leur รฉvolution dรฉmocratique.
First article.
France is an indivisible, secular, democratic and social republic. It ensures equality before the law of all citizens without distinction of origin, race or religion. She respects all beliefs. Its organization is decentralized.
The law promotes equal access for women and men to electoral mandates and elective functions, as well as to professional and social responsibilities.
Article premier.
La France est une Rรฉpublique indivisible, laรฏque, dรฉmocratique et sociale. Elle assure l’รฉgalitรฉ devant la loi de tous les citoyens sans distinction d’origine, de race ou de religion. Elle respecte toutes les croyances. Son organisation est dรฉcentralisรฉe.
La loi favorise l’รฉgal accรจs des femmes et des hommes aux mandats รฉlectoraux et fonctions รฉlectives, ainsi qu’aux responsabilitรฉs professionnelles et sociales.
Title I – SOVEREIGNTY
Article 2.
The language of the Republic is French.
The national emblem is the tricoloured flag, blue, white, red.
The national anthem is the “Marseillaise”.
The motto of the Republic is “Freedom, Equality, Fraternity”.
Its principle is: government of the people, by the people and for the people.
Article 3.
National sovereignty belongs to the people who exercise it through their representatives and by referendum.
No section of the people nor any individual can assume the exercise.
Suffrage may be direct or indirect under the conditions provided by the Constitution. it is always universal, equal and secret.
The electors, under the conditions determined by law, are all major French nationals of both sexes, enjoying their civil and political rights.
Article 4.
Political parties and groups contribute to the expression of suffrage. They form and exercise their activity freely. They must respect the principles of national sovereignty and democracy.
They contribute to the implementation of the principle set out in the second paragraph of Article 1 under the conditions determined by law.
The law guarantees pluralistic expressions of opinion and the equitable participation of political parties and groups in the democratic life of the nation.
Title II – THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
Article 5.
The President of the Republic ensures the respect of the Constitution. It ensures, by its arbitration, the regular functioning of the public authorities as well as the continuity of the State.
It is the guarantor of national independence, territorial integrity and respect for treaties.
Article 6.
The President of the Republic is elected for five years by direct universal suffrage.
No one may serve more than two consecutive terms.
The methods of application of this article are laid down in an organic law.
Article 7.
The President of the Republic is elected by an absolute majority of the votes cast. If it is not obtained in the first ballot, a second ballot shall be taken on the fourteenth day following. Only the two candidates who, if necessary after the withdrawal of more advantaged candidates, are to have the highest number of votes in the first round.
Voting is open upon convocation of the Government.
The election of the new President shall take place at least twenty days and not more than thirty-five days before the expiry of the powers of the President-in-Office.
In the event of vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic for any reason whatsoever, or of impediment noted by the Constitutional Council seized by the Government and acting by an absolute majority of its members, the functions of the President of the Republic, at the except those provided for in Articles 11 and 12 below, are provisionally exercised by the President of the Senate and, if he is in turn prevented from exercising these functions, by the Government.
In case of vacancy or when the impediment is declared definitive by the Constitutional Council, the ballot for the election of the new president takes place, except in cases of force majeure recognized by the Constitutional Council, twenty days at least and thirty-five days at more after the opening of the vacancy or the declaration of the definitive nature of the impediment.
If, in the seven days preceding the closing date for submitting nominations, one of the persons who, less than thirty days before that date, publicly announced his decision to become a candidate dies or is prevented from doing so, the Constitutional Council may decide to postpone the election.
If, before the first round, one of the candidates dies or is prevented, the Constitutional Council pronounces the postponement of the election.
In the event of the death or incapacity of one of the two most favored candidates in the first round before any withdrawals, the Constitutional Council declares that all the electoral operations must be carried out again; the same applies in the event of the death or incapacity of one of the two candidates remaining in the presence for the second round.
In all cases, the Constitutional Council is seized under the conditions set in the second paragraph of Article 61 below or in those determined for the presentation of a candidate by the organic law provided for in Article 6 above.
The Constitutional Council may extend the time limits provided for in the third and fifth paragraphs without the vote being held more than thirty-five days after the date of the decision of the Constitutional Council. If the application of the provisions of this paragraph has had the effect of postponing the election to a date subsequent to the expiry of the powers of the incumbent President, the latter shall remain in office until the proclamation of his successor.
Articles 49 and 50 and 89 of the Constitution can not be applied during the vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic or during the period between the declaration of the definitive nature of the President’s incapacity of the Republic and the election of his successor.
Article 8.
The President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister. He terminates his duties on the presentation by him of the resignation of the Government.
On the proposal of the Prime Minister, he appoints the other members of the Government and terminates their functions.
Article 9.
The President of the Republic chairs the Council of Ministers.
Article 10.
The President of the Republic promulgates the laws within fifteen days following the transmission to the Government of the definitively adopted law.
He may, before the expiry of this period, ask the Parliament for a new deliberation of the law or some of its articles. This new deliberation can not be refused.
Article 11.
The President of the Republic, on the proposal of the Government during the duration of the sessions or on the joint proposal of the two Assemblies, published in the Official Gazette , may submit to the referendum any draft law on the organization of the public authorities, on reforms relating to the economic, social or environmental policy of the nation and the public services which contribute to it, or tending to authorize the ratification of a treaty which, without being contrary to the Constitution, would affect the functioning of the institutions.
When the referendum is organized on a proposal from the Government, the latter makes a statement before each assembly, which is followed by a debate.
A referendum on an object mentioned in the first paragraph may be organized on the initiative of one fifth of the members of Parliament, supported by one-tenth of the voters registered on the electoral lists. This initiative takes the form of a legislative proposal and can not be used to repeal a legislative provision that has been in place for less than a year.
The conditions of its presentation and those in which the Constitutional Council controls compliance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph are determined by an organic law.
If the bill has not been examined by both assemblies within a deadline set by the organic law, the President of the Republic submits it to the referendum.
When the bill of law is not adopted by the French people, no new proposal for a referendum on the same subject can be presented before the expiry of a period of two years following the polling date.
When the referendum concludes the adoption of the bill or bill, the President of the Republic promulgates the law within fifteen days after the proclamation of the results of the consultation.
Article 12.
The President of the Republic may, after consultation with the Prime Minister and the presidents of the assemblies, pronounce the dissolution of the National Assembly.
General elections shall be held not less than twenty days and not more than forty days after the dissolution.
The National Assembly meets as of right on the second Thursday following its election. If this meeting is held outside the period provided for the ordinary session, a session shall be open for a period of fifteen days.
There can be no further dissolution in the year following these elections.
Article 13.
The President of the Republic signs orders and decrees deliberated in the Council of Ministers.
He appoints to the civil and military jobs of the State.
The State Councilors, the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor, the ambassadors and envoys extraordinary, the master advisers to the Court of Auditors, the prefects, the representatives of the State in the oversea communities governed by Article 74 and in New Caledonia, the general officers, the rectors of the academies, the directors of the central administrations are appointed in the Council of Ministers.
An organic law determines the other posts to which it is provided in the Council of Ministers as well as the conditions under which the power of appointment of the President of the Republic may be delegated by him to be exercised on his behalf.
An organic law determines the jobs or functions, other than those mentioned in the third paragraph, for which, because of their importance for the guarantee of rights and freedoms or the economic and social life of the Nation, the power of appointment of the President of the Republic is exercised after public notice from the competent standing committee of each assembly. The President of the Republic can not make an appointment when the addition of negative votes in each committee represents at least three-fifths of the votes cast in both committees. The law determines the competent standing committees according to the jobs or functions concerned.
Article 14.
The President of the Republic accredits ambassadors and envoys extraordinary to foreign powers; foreign ambassadors and envoys are accredited to him.
Article 15.
The President of the Republic is the chief of the armies. He chairs the councils and senior committees of national defense.
Article 16.
When the institutions of the Republic, the independence of the Nation, the integrity of its territory or the performance of its international commitments are threatened in a serious and immediate manner and the regular functioning of the constitutional public authorities is interrupted, the President of the Republic takes the measures required by these circumstances, after official consultation of the Prime Minister, the presidents of the assemblies as well as the Constitutional Council.
He informs the Nation by a message.
These measures must be inspired by the desire to provide the constitutional public authorities, as quickly as possible, with the means to accomplish their mission. The Constitutional Council is consulted about them.
Parliament meets as of right.
The National Assembly can not be dissolved during the exercise of exceptional powers.
After thirty days of exercise of exceptional powers, the Constitutional Council may be seized by the President of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate, sixty deputies or sixty senators, for the purpose of examining whether the conditions set out in the first paragraph remain met. . It pronounces as soon as possible by a public notice. It proceeds automatically to this examination and pronounces under the same conditions after 60 days of exercise of the exceptional powers and at any time beyond this period.
Article 17.
The President of the Republic has the right to pardon individually.
Article 18.
The President of the Republic communicates with the two assemblies of the Parliament by messages that he has read and that do not give rise to any debate.
He may address the Parliament convened for this purpose in Congress. His statement may give rise, in his absence, to a debate which is not subject to any vote.
Outside the session, the parliamentary assemblies are convened specifically for this purpose.
Article 19.
The acts of the President of the Republic other than those provided for in articles 8 (1st paragraph), 11, 12, 16, 18, 54, 56 and 61 are countersigned by the Prime Minister and, where appropriate, by the ministers responsible.
Title III – THE GOVERNMENT
Article 20.
The Government determines and conducts the policy of the Nation.
He has the administration and the armed force.
He shall be responsible to Parliament in accordance with the conditions and procedures provided for in Articles 49 and 50.
Article 21.
The Prime Minister directs the action of the Government. He is responsible for national defense. He ensures the execution of the laws. Subject to the provisions of Article 13, he exercises regulatory power and appoints civil and military posts.
He can delegate some of his powers to ministers.
It replaces, if need be, the President of the Republic in the chairmanship of the councils and committees envisaged in article 15.
He may, exceptionally, substitute him for the presidency of a council of ministers by virtue of an express delegation and for a specific agenda.
Article 22.
The acts of the Prime Minister are countersigned, if necessary, by the ministers in charge of their execution.
Article 23.
The functions of a member of the Government are incompatible with the exercise of any parliamentary mandate, any function of national professional representation and any public employment or any professional activity.
An organic law lays down the conditions under which the replacement of the holders of such mandates, functions or jobs is provided.
The replacement of members of Parliament shall take place in accordance with the provisions of Article 25.
Title IV – THE PARLIAMENT
Article 24.
Parliament votes the law. It controls the action of the Government. It evaluates public policies.
It includes the National Assembly and the Senate.
Members of the National Assembly, whose number may not exceed five hundred and seventy-seven, are elected by direct suffrage.
The Senate, whose number of members may not exceed three hundred and forty-eight, is elected by indirect suffrage. It ensures the representation of the territorial collectivities of the Republic.
French people living outside France are represented in the National Assembly and the Senate.
Article 25.
An organic law fixes the duration of the powers of each assembly, the number of its members, their indemnity, the conditions of eligibility, the system of ineligibilities and incompatibilities.
It also lays down the conditions under which the persons appointed to ensure, in the event of vacancy, the replacement of deputies or senators until the general or partial renewal of the assembly to which they belonged or their temporary replacement in case acceptance by them of governmental functions.
An independent commission, whose law determines the composition and rules of organization and operation, decides on a public opinion on the draft texts and draft laws delimiting constituencies for the election of deputies or modifying the distribution of seats deputies or senators.
Article 26.
No Member of Parliament may be prosecuted, investigated, arrested, detained or judged on the occasion of opinions or votes cast by him in the exercise of his functions.
No member of Parliament may be subject to arrest or any other privative or restrictive measure of liberty in criminal or correctional matters except with the authorization of the Bureau of the Assembly of which he is a member. This authorization is not required in the event of a crime or flagrant offense or final conviction.
Detention, privative or restrictive measures of liberty or the prosecution of a Member of Parliament shall be suspended for the duration of the session if the Assembly to which it belongs so requests.
The assembly concerned is automatically reunited for additional sessions to allow, if necessary, the application of the above paragraph.
Article 27.
Any imperative mandate is null.
The voting rights of Members of Parliament are personal.
The organic law may exceptionally authorize the delegation of vote. In this case no one can receive delegation of more than one mandate.
Article 28.
Parliament meets as of right in an ordinary session which begins on the first working day of October and ends on the last working day of June.
The number of sitting days that each assembly may hold during the ordinary session may not exceed one hundred and twenty. The weeks of sitting are fixed by each assembly.
The Prime Minister, after consultation with the president of the assembly concerned, or the majority of the members of each assembly may decide to hold additional days of sitting.
The days and times of the sessions are determined by the rules of each meeting.
Article 29.
The Parliament meets in extraordinary session at the request of the Prime Minister or the majority of the members composing the National Assembly, on a determined agenda.
When the extraordinary session is held at the request of the members of the National Assembly, the closing decree comes as soon as the Parliament has exhausted the agenda for which it was convened and at the latest twelve days from its meeting .
The Prime Minister can only request a new session before the end of the month following the closing decree.
Article 30.
Except in cases where the Parliament meets as of right, the extraordinary sessions are opened and closed by decree of the President of the Republic.
Article 31.
Government members have access to both assemblies. They are heard when they ask for it.
They can be assisted by government commissioners.
Article 32.
The President of the National Assembly is elected for the duration of the legislature. The President of the Senate is elected after each partial renewal.
Article 33.
The sessions of both assemblies are public. The full report of the proceedings is published in the Official Journal .
Each assembly may sit in a secret committee at the request of the Prime Minister or one-tenth of its members.
Title V – REPORTS BETWEEN PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Article 34.
The law sets the rules concerning:
civil rights and fundamental guarantees granted to citizens for the exercise of public freedoms; freedom, pluralism and independence of the media; the subjections imposed by the national defense on the citizens in their person and in their property;
nationality, state and capacity of persons, matrimonial regimes, inheritances and liberalities;
the determination of the crimes and offenses and the penalties applicable to them; criminal procedure; the amnesty; the creation of new orders of jurisdiction and the status of magistrates;
the base, the rate and the methods of recovery of taxes of all kinds; the regime of issue of the currency.
The law also sets the rules for:
the electoral system of parliamentary assemblies, local assemblies and representative bodies of French nationals established outside France, as well as the conditions for the exercise of the electoral mandates and elective functions of the members of deliberative assemblies of local authorities;
the creation of categories of public institutions;
basic guarantees granted to civil and military officials of the state;
nationalizations of enterprises and transfers of ownership of companies from the public to the private sector.
The law determines the fundamental principles:
the general organization of National Defense;
the free administration of local authorities, their powers and their resources;
Education ;
the preservation of the environment;
property rights, rights in rem and civil and commercial obligations;
labor law, trade union law and social security.
The finance laws determine the resources and the expenses of the State in the conditions and under the reserves provided for by an organic law.
The social security financing laws determine the general conditions of its financial equilibrium and, taking into account their revenue forecasts, fix its spending objectives, under the conditions and under the reserves provided for by an organic law.
Programming laws determine the objectives of state action.
The multiannual public finance guidelines are defined by programming laws. They are part of the objective of balancing the accounts of general government.
The provisions of this article may be specified and supplemented by an organic law.
Article 34-1.
Meetings may vote resolutions under the conditions set by the organic law.
Proposed resolutions of which the Government considers that their adoption or rejection would be such as to call into question its responsibility or contain injunctions against it are inadmissible and may not be placed on the agenda.
Article 35.
The declaration of war is authorized by Parliament.
The Government informs Parliament of its decision to involve the armed forces abroad, no later than three days after the start of the intervention. It specifies the objectives pursued. This information may give rise to a debate which is not followed by any vote.
When the duration of the intervention exceeds four months, the Government submits its extension to the authorization of Parliament. He may ask the National Assembly to decide in the last resort.
If the Parliament is not in session at the end of the four-month period, it shall take a decision at the opening of the next session.
Article 36.
The state of siege is decreed in the Council of Ministers.
Its extension beyond twelve days can only be authorized by Parliament.
Article 37.
Subjects other than those which fall within the scope of the law are of a regulatory nature.
Legislative texts in these matters may be amended by decrees issued after consulting the Council of State. Those of those texts that would come into force after the coming into force of this Constitution can only be amended by decree if the Constitutional Council has declared that they are of a regulatory nature under the preceding paragraph.
Article 37-1.
The law and the regulations may include, for a limited purpose and duration, provisions of an experimental nature.
Article 38.
The Government may, in the execution of its program, request Parliament to authorize, for a limited period of time, measures which are normally within the scope of the law.
Ordinances are issued by the Council of Ministers after consulting the Council of State. They come into force as soon as they are published but lapse if the ratification bill is not tabled in Parliament before the date set by the enabling law. They can only be ratified expressly.
At the expiry of the period mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, ordinances may only be amended by law in matters which are in the legislative domain.
Article 39.
The initiative of the laws belongs concurrently to the Prime Minister and the members of Parliament.
Bills are deliberated by the Council of Ministers after consulting the Council of State and deposited on the desk of one of the two assemblies. The bills of finance and social security financing law are submitted in the first place to the National Assembly. Without prejudice to the first paragraph of Article 44, bills whose main purpose is the organization of local and regional authorities shall be submitted first to the Senate.
The presentation of bills introduced in the National Assembly or the Senate meets the conditions set by an organic law.
Bills can not be placed on the agenda if the Conference of Presidents of the first meeting seized finds that the rules set by the organic law are ignored. In the event of disagreement between the Conference of Presidents and the Government, the President of the Assembly concerned or the Prime Minister may refer the matter to the Constitutional Council within eight days.
Under the conditions provided for by law, the chairman of a meeting may submit to the Conseil d’รtat, for consideration before the committee’s consideration, a proposal for a law tabled by one of the members of that meeting, unless the latter opposes it.
Article 40.
Proposals and amendments formulated by Members of Parliament are not admissible when their adoption would result either in a diminution of public resources or the creation or aggravation of a public office.
Article 41.
If it appears during the course of the legislative procedure that a proposal or an amendment is not within the scope of the law or is contrary to a delegation granted under Article 38, the Government or the President of the Assembly seizure may preclude the inadmissibility.
In case of disagreement between the Government and the President of the assembly concerned, the Constitutional Council, at the request of one or the other, shall rule within eight days.
Article 42.
At the meeting, the debate on bills and bills shall refer to the text adopted by the committee seized pursuant to Rule 43 or, failing that, to the text before the assembly.
However, the discussion at the meeting of constitutional revision projects, draft finance bills and draft social security financing bills bears, in first reading before the first assembly seized, the text presented by the Government and, for other readings, on the text transmitted by the other assembly.
The debate at the first reading session of a bill or a bill may only take place before the first meeting seized at the end of six weeks after it has been tabled. It may not intervene before the second meeting seized until the expiry of a period of four weeks from its transmission.
The preceding paragraph does not apply if the expedited procedure has been initiated under the conditions provided for in Article 45. It does not apply either to draft finance bills, to draft security financing laws. social security and crisis projects.
Article 43.
Proposals and bills are sent for consideration to one of the standing committees, which is limited to eight in each assembly.
At the request of the Government or the Assembly which is seized of it, the bills or proposals of law are sent for examination to a commission specially designated for this purpose.
Article 44.
Members of Parliament and the Government have the right of amendment. This right is exercised in session or in committee according to the conditions fixed by the by-laws of the assemblies, within the framework determined by an organic law.
After the opening of the debate, the Government may oppose the examination of any amendment which has not previously been submitted to the Committee.
If the Government so requests, the Assembly shall decide by a single vote on all or part of the text under discussion, retaining only the amendments proposed or accepted by the Government.
Article 45.
Any bill or bill is examined successively in both Houses of Parliament with a view to the adoption of an identical text. Without prejudice to the application of Articles 40 and 41, any amendment shall be admissible at first reading if it presents a link, even indirectly, with the text deposited or transmitted.
When, as a result of a disagreement between the two assemblies, a bill or a bill could not be adopted after two readings by each assembly or, if the Government decided to initiate the accelerated procedure without the Conferences of the presidents jointly opposed, after a single reading by each of them, the Prime Minister or, for a proposal for a law, the presidents of the two assemblies acting jointly, have the faculty to provoke the meeting of a joint commission parity responsible for proposing a text on the provisions still under discussion.
The text prepared by the Joint Committee may be submitted by the Government for approval to both Assemblies. No amendment is admissible unless the Government agrees.
If the Joint Committee fails to adopt a common text or if this text is not adopted under the conditions set out in the preceding paragraph, the Government may, after a further reading by the National Assembly and by the Senate, ask the National Assembly to rule definitively. In this case, the National Assembly may adopt either the text drafted by the joint committee or the last text voted by it, modified if necessary by one or more of the amendments adopted by the Senate.
Article 46.
The laws to which the Constitution confers the character of organic laws are voted and modified under the following conditions.
The draft or proposal may, at first reading, be submitted to the deliberation and vote of the assemblies only at the expiry of the time limits set in the third paragraph of Article 42. However, if the accelerated procedure has been initiated in the conditions set out in Article 45, the draft or the proposal may not be submitted to the deliberation of the first meeting before the expiry of a period of fifteen days after its submission.
The procedure of Article 45 is applicable. However, if there is no agreement between the two assemblies, the text can only be adopted by the National Assembly at last reading by an absolute majority of its members.
The organic laws relating to the Senate must be voted in the same terms by the two assemblies.
Organic laws can be promulgated only after the declaration by the Constitutional Council of their conformity to the Constitution.
Article 47.
The Parliament votes the finance bills in the conditions provided for by an organic law.
If the National Assembly has not taken a decision at first reading within forty days after the tabling of a draft, the Government shall refer the Senate to a decision within a period of fifteen days. It is then carried out under the conditions provided for in Article 45.
If the Parliament has not pronounced within seventy days, the provisions of the draft can be put into effect by ordinance.
If the budget law fixing the resources and expenses of a financial year has not been submitted in time to be promulgated before the beginning of this financial year, the Government urgently requests from Parliament the authorization to collect the taxes and opens the A-base vote by order in council.
The time limits provided for in this Article shall be suspended when Parliament is not in session.
Article 47-1.
The Parliament votes the bills of financing of the social security in the conditions envisaged by an organic law.
If the National Assembly has not taken a decision on first reading within twenty days after the submission of a draft, the Government shall refer the Senate to a decision within fifteen days. It is then carried out under the conditions provided for in Article 45.
If Parliament has not reached a decision within fifty days, the provisions of the draft can be implemented by ordinance.
The time limits provided for in this article shall be suspended when the Parliament is not in session and, for each assembly, in the weeks in which it has decided not to hold a meeting, in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 28.
Article 47-2.
The Court of Auditors assists the Parliament in controlling the action of the Government. It assists the Parliament and the Government in the control of the execution of the financial laws and the application of the laws of financing of the social security as well as in the evaluation of the public policies. Through its public reports, it contributes to the information of citizens.
The accounts of the general government are regular and sincere. They give a true picture of the results of their management, their wealth and their financial situation.
Article 48.
Without prejudice to the application of the last three paragraphs of Article 28, the agenda shall be fixed by each meeting.
Two weeks out of four shall be reserved by priority, and in the order that the Government has fixed, for the examination of the texts and debates for which it requests the inclusion on the agenda.
In addition, the examination of bills of finance, social security financing bills and, subject to the provisions of the following paragraph, texts transmitted by the other assembly for six weeks at least, projects relating to states of crisis and requests for authorization referred to in Article 35 shall, at the request of the Government, be placed on the agenda by priority.
One out of four sitting weeks is reserved by priority and in the order set by each assembly for the control of the Government’s action and the evaluation of public policies.
One sitting day per month is reserved for an agenda decided by each assembly at the initiative of the opposition groups of the assembly concerned as well as that of the minority groups.
At least one sitting per week, including the special sessions provided for in Rule 29, shall be preceded by questions from Members of Parliament and Government replies.
Article 49.
The Prime Minister, after deliberation of the Council of Ministers, engages before the National Assembly the responsibility of the Government on its program or possibly on a declaration of general policy.
The National Assembly questions the responsibility of the Government by voting a motion of censure. Such a motion is admissible only if it is signed by at least one tenth of the members of the National Assembly. The vote can not take place until forty-eight hours after its deposit. Only the votes in favor of the motion of censure, which can only be adopted by a majority of the members of the Assembly, are counted. Except as provided in the following paragraph, a Member may not sign more than three motions of censure during the same ordinary session and more than one during the same extraordinary session.
The Prime Minister may, after deliberation of the Council of Ministers, engage the responsibility of the Government before the National Assembly on the vote of a bill of finance or financing of social security. In this case, the project is deemed to be adopted, unless a motion of censure, tabled within twenty-four hours, is voted under the conditions set out in the preceding paragraph. The Prime Minister may, in addition, use this procedure for another project or a proposal for a law per session.
The Prime Minister has the right to ask the Senate for approval of a general policy statement.
Article 50.
When the National Assembly adopts a motion of censure or when it disapproves of the program or a statement of general policy of the Government, the Prime Minister must submit to the President of the Republic the resignation of the Government.
Article 50-1.
Before any of the assemblies, the Government may, on its own initiative or at the request of a parliamentary group within the meaning of section 51-1, make a declaration on a specific subject giving rise to to debate and may, if it so decides, be votable without liability.
Article 51.
The closure of the ordinary session or the extraordinary sessions is by law delayed to allow, if necessary, the application of article 49. For the same purpose, additional sessions are by right.
Article 51-1.
The rules of each assembly determine the rights of the parliamentary groups formed within it. It recognizes specific rights for opposition groups in the assembly concerned as well as for minority groups.
Article 51-2.
For the exercise of the monitoring and evaluation missions defined in the first paragraph of Article 24, commissions of inquiry may be set up within each assembly to collect, under the conditions provided for by law, elements of information.
The law determines their rules of organization and operation. Their conditions of creation are fixed by the rules of each assembly.
Title VI – TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
Article 52.
The President of the Republic negotiates and ratifies the treaties.
He is informed of any negotiations leading to the conclusion of an international agreement not subject to ratification.
Article 53.
Peace treaties, commercial treaties, treaties or agreements relating to the international organization, those that commit the finances of the State, those that modify provisions of a legislative nature, those that relate to the state of the people those containing assignment, exchange or addition of territory may be ratified or approved only by law.
They take effect only after they have been ratified or approved.
No cession, no exchange, no addition of territory is valid without the consent of the populations concerned.
Article 53-1.
The Republic may conclude with the European States which are bound by identical commitments to its own on asylum and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, agreements determining their respective powers for the examination of applications for asylum that are presented to them.
However, even if the request does not fall within their competence under these agreements, the authorities of the Republic always have the right to give asylum to any foreigner persecuted by reason of his action for the freedom or which seeks the protection from France for another reason.
Article 53-2.
The Republic may recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court under the conditions provided for in the treaty signed on 18 July 1998 .
Article 54.
If the Constitutional Council, seized by the President of the Republic, by the Prime Minister, by the president of one or the other assembly or by sixty deputies or sixty senators, declared that an international commitment contains a clause contrary to the Constitution, the authorization to ratify or approve the international commitment in question can only be made after the revision of the Constitution.
Article 55.
Treaties or agreements duly ratified or approved have, from their publication, an authority superior to that of the laws, subject, for each agreement or treaty, to its application by the other party.
Title VII – THE CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL
Article 56.
The Constitutional Council comprises nine members, whose term of office lasts nine years and is not renewable. The Constitutional Council is renewed by thirds every three years. Three of the members are appointed by the President of the Republic, three by the President of the National Assembly, three by the President of the Senate. The procedure provided for in the last paragraph of Article 13 is applicable to these appointments. The appointments made by the chairman of each meeting are subject to the sole opinion of the relevant standing committee of the relevant meeting.
In addition to the nine members provided for above, the former Presidents of the Republic are entitled to life for life from the Constitutional Council.
The president is appointed by the President of the Republic. He has a casting vote in case of sharing.
Article 57.
The functions of member of the Constitutional Council are incompatible with those of minister or member of Parliament. The other incompatibilities are fixed by an organic law.
Article 58.
The Constitutional Council ensures the regularity of the election of the President of the Republic.
He examines the claims and proclaims the results of the ballot.
Article 59.
The Constitutional Council decides, in case of dispute, on the regularity of the election of deputies and senators.
Article 60.
The Constitutional Council shall ensure the regularity of the referendum operations provided for in Articles 11 and 89 and Title XV. He proclaims the results.
Article 61.
The organic laws, before their promulgation, the legislative proposals mentioned in article 11 before they are submitted to the referendum, and the regulations of the parliamentary assemblies, before their implementation, must be submitted to the Constitutional Council which decides on their conformity to the Constitution.
For the same purpose, the laws may be referred to the Constitutional Council, before their promulgation, by the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate or sixty deputies or sixty senators.
In the cases provided for in the two preceding paragraphs, the Constitutional Council must decide within one month. However, at the request of the Government, if there is urgency, this period is reduced to eight days.
In these same cases, the seizin of the constitutional council suspends the delay of promulgation.
Article 61-1.
Where, in proceedings pending before a court, it is alleged that a legislative provision infringes the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, the Constitutional Council may be seized of this matter by reference from the Council. State or the Court of Cassation which pronounces within a specified period.
An organic law determines the conditions of application of this article.
Article 62.
A provision declared unconstitutional on the basis of Article 61 can not be promulgated or enforced.
A provision declared unconstitutional on the basis of Article 61-1 is repealed from the publication of the decision of the Constitutional Council or a later date fixed by this decision. The Constitutional Council determines the conditions and limits within which the effects that the provision has produced are likely to be challenged.
Decisions of the Constitutional Council are not subject to any appeal. They are binding on public authorities and all administrative and jurisdictional authorities.
Article 63.
An organic law determines the rules of organization and functioning of the Constitutional Council, the procedure that is followed before it and in particular the deadlines open for the seizure of disputes.
Title VIII – JUDICIAL AUTHORITY
Article 64.
The President of the Republic guarantees the independence of the judicial authority.
He is assisted by the Superior Council of the Judiciary.
An organic law bears the status of magistrates.
The judges of the seat are irremovable.
Article 65.
The Superior Council of the Judiciary includes competent training for magistrates at headquarters and competent training for prosecutors.
The competent training for magistrates is chaired by the first president of the Court of Cassation. It includes, in addition, five judges and a prosecutor, a State Councilor appointed by the Council of State, a lawyer and six qualified persons who do not belong to Parliament or the judiciary. nor to the administrative order. The President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly and the President of the Senate each appoint two qualified persons. The procedure provided for in the last paragraph of Article 13 shall apply to the appointments of qualified persons. Appointments made by the president of each assembly of Parliament are submitted to the sole opinion of the competent standing committee of the assembly concerned.
The competent training for prosecutors is chaired by the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation. It includes, in addition, five magistrates of the public prosecutor’s office and a magistrate of the seat, as well as the councilor of state, the lawyer and the six qualified persons mentioned in the second paragraph.
The formation of the Superior Council of the Judiciary competent with regard to the magistrates of the seat makes proposals for the appointments of the magistrates sits at the Court of Cassation, for those of first president of court of appeal and for those of president of court of high instance. The other judges of the seat are appointed on his assent.
The formation of the Superior Council of the Judiciary with regard to the prosecutors gives its opinion on the appointments concerning the prosecutors.
The formation of the Superior Council of the Judiciary with jurisdiction over the magistrates of the seat judges as a disciplinary council of the magistrates of the seat. It includes, in addition to the members referred to in the second paragraph, the magistrate of the seat belonging to the competent formation with regard to the magistrates of the public prosecutor’s office.
The formation of the Superior Council of Magistrates with regard to the prosecutors gives its opinion on the disciplinary sanctions which concern them. It then includes, in addition to the members referred to in the third paragraph, the public prosecutor belonging to the competent formation with regard to the magistrates of the head office.
The Superior Council of the Judiciary meets in plenary session to respond to the requests for opinion made by the President of the Republic under Article 64. It gives its opinion, in the same formation, on the questions relating to the ethics of the magistrates as well as on any question relating to the functioning of justice, which is referred to the Minister of Justice. The plenary session shall include three of the five judges of the seat mentioned in the second paragraph, three of the five public prosecutors mentioned in the third paragraph, as well as the State Councilor, the lawyer and the six qualified persons mentioned in the second paragraph. It is presided over by the first president of the Court of Cassation, who can replace the attorney general at this court.
Except in disciplinary matters, the Minister of Justice may participate in the sessions of the formations of the Superior Council of the Judiciary.
The Superior Council of the Judiciary can be seized by a litigant in the conditions fixed by an organic law.
The organic law determines the conditions of application of this article.
Article 66.
No one can be arbitrarily detained.
The judicial authority, guardian of individual liberty, ensures the respect of this principle under the conditions provided for by law.
Article 66-1.
No one can be sentenced to death.
Title IX – THE HIGH COURT
Article 67.
The President of the Republic is not liable for acts done in this capacity, subject to the provisions of Articles 53-2 and 68.
He may not, during his mandate and before any French jurisdiction or administrative authority, be required to testify or be the subject of an action, an act of information, instruction or prosecution. Any limitation period or foreclosure is suspended.
Proceedings and procedures so obstructed may be resumed or brought against him within one month of the termination of his duties.
Article 68.
The President of the Republic may be dismissed only in the event of a breach of his duties manifestly incompatible with the exercise of his mandate. The dismissal is pronounced by the Parliament constituted in High Court.
The proposal for a meeting of the High Court adopted by one of the Assemblies of Parliament is immediately forwarded to the other, which shall decide within fifteen days.
The High Court is presided over by the President of the National Assembly. It decides within a month, by secret ballot, on the dismissal. His decision is of immediate effect.
Decisions taken pursuant to this Article shall be by a two-thirds majority of the members of the relevant meeting or the High Court. Any delegation of vote is forbidden. Only votes in favor of the proposed High Court meeting or dismissal are counted.
An organic law lays down the conditions of application of this article.
Title X – CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENT MEMBERS
Article 68-1.
The members of the Government are criminally responsible for the acts done in the exercise of their functions and qualified as crimes or misdemeanors at the time they were committed.
They are judged by the Court of Justice of the Republic.
The Court of Justice of the Republic is bound by the definition of crimes and offenses as well as by the determination of the penalties as they result from the law.
Article 68-2.
The Court of Justice of the Republic comprises fifteen judges: twelve members of parliament, elected from among them and in equal numbers, by the National Assembly and the Senate after each general or partial renewal of these assemblies and three judges sitting at the Court of Justice. cassation, one of which presides over the Court of Justice of the Republic.
Anyone claiming to be aggrieved by a crime or misdemeanor committed by a member of the Government in the performance of his duties may lodge a complaint with a petition commission.
This commission orders either the filing of the proceedings or its transmission to the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation for the purpose of referral to the Court of Justice of the Republic.
The public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation may also appeal ex officio to the Court of Justice of the Republic with the assent of the petitions commission.
An organic law determines the conditions of application of this article.
Article 68-3.
The provisions of this title shall apply to acts committed before its entry into force.
Title XI – THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
Article 69.
The Economic, Social and Environmental Council, seized by the Government, gives its opinion on draft laws, ordinances or decrees as well as on proposed laws submitted to it.
A member of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council may be appointed by the Council to present to the Parliamentary Assembly the opinion of the Council on the projects or proposals submitted to it.
The Economic, Social and Environmental Council can be petitioned under the conditions set by an organic law. After examining the petition, it informs the Government and Parliament of the action it proposes to take.
Article 70.
The Economic, Social and Environmental Council may be consulted by the Government and the Parliament on any economic, social or environmental problem. The Government can also consult it on the draft programming law defining the multiannual orientations of the public finances. Any economic, social or environmental programming plan or bill is submitted for opinion.
Article 71.
The composition of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, whose number of members may not exceed two hundred and thirty-three, and its rules of operation are set by an organic law.
Title XI bis – THE DEFENDER OF RIGHTS
Article 71-1.
The Defender of Rights ensures the respect of rights and freedoms by the State administrations, local authorities, public institutions, as well as by any organization entrusted with a public service mission, or in respect of which the organic law gives him skills.
It may be seized, under the conditions provided for by the organic law, by any person who feels aggrieved by the operation of a public service or an organization referred to in the first paragraph. He can seize automatically.
The organic law defines the powers and modalities of intervention of the Defender of Rights. It determines the conditions under which it may be assisted by a college for the exercise of certain of its attributions.
The Defender of Rights is appointed by the President of the Republic for a non-renewable six-year term, following the procedure set out in the last paragraph of article 13. His duties are incompatible with those of a member of the Government and a member of the Parliament. The other incompatibilities are fixed by the organic law.
The Defender of Rights reports to the President of the Republic and Parliament.
Title XII – TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES
Article 72.
The territorial units of the Republic are the communes, the departments, the regions, the special-status communities and the overseas collectivities governed by Article 74. Any other territorial collectivity is created by law, if any place and place of one or more communities mentioned in this paragraph.
Local and regional authorities are responsible for making the decisions for all the skills that can best be implemented at their level.
Under the conditions provided for by law, these communities freely administer themselves through elected councils and have regulatory power to exercise their powers.
Under the conditions provided for by the organic law, and except where the essential conditions for the exercise of a public freedom or a constitutionally guaranteed right are at issue, local authorities or their groupings may, where, as the case may be, the law or the regulation provides for it, to derogate, on an experimental basis and for a limited purpose and duration, from the legislative or regulatory provisions governing the exercise of their powers.
No territorial authority can exercise guardianship over another. However, where the exercise of a jurisdiction requires the assistance of several local authorities, the law may authorize one of them or one of their groupings to organize the terms of their joint action.
In the territorial communities of the Republic, the representative of the State, representing each of the members of the Government, is responsible for national interests, administrative control and compliance with the laws.
Article 72-1.
The law lays down the conditions under which the electors of each territorial collectivity may, by the exercise of the right of petition, request the inclusion on the agenda of the deliberative assembly of that collectivity of a question within its competence. .
Under the conditions provided for by the organic law, projects of deliberation or act within the jurisdiction of a local authority may, on its own initiative, be submitted, by way of referendum, to the decision of the electors of that collectivity.
When it is envisaged to establish a territorial collectivity with a particular status or to modify its organization, it may be decided by law to consult registered voters in the communities concerned. The modification of the limits of the territorial collectivities can also give rise to the consultation of the voters under the conditions envisaged by the law.
Article 72-2.
Local and regional authorities benefit from resources freely available to them under the conditions set by law.
They can receive all or part of the product of impositions of all kinds. The law may authorize them to fix the base and rate within the limits it determines.
Tax revenues and other own resources of local authorities represent, for each category of community, a decisive part of their total resources. The organic law sets the conditions under which this rule is implemented.
Any transfer of powers between the State and the local authorities is accompanied by the allocation of resources equivalent to those devoted to their exercise. Any creation or extension of powers which has the effect of increasing the expenditure of local authorities is accompanied by resources determined by law.
The law provides for equalization schemes designed to promote equality between local and regional authorities.
Article 72-3.
The Republic recognizes, within the French people, the populations of overseas, in a common ideal of freedom, equality and fraternity.
Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Reunion, Mayotte, Saint Barthelemy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, the Wallis and Futuna Islands and French Polynesia are governed by Article 73 for the departments and territories. regions, and for local authorities created under the last paragraph of Article 73, and Article 74 for other communities.
The status of New Caledonia is governed by Title XIII.
The law determines the legislative regime and the particular organization of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands and Clipperton.
Article 72-4.
No change, for all or part of one of the communities referred to in the second paragraph of section 72-3, from one to the other of the plans provided for in sections 73 and 74, may take place without the consent electors of the community or part of the community concerned have been previously collected under the conditions set out in the following paragraph. This change of regime is decided by an organic law.
The President of the Republic, on the proposal of the Government during the duration of the sessions or on a joint proposal of the two assemblies, published in the Official Journal , may decide to consult the electors of a territorial collectivity located overseas on a question relating to its organization. , its jurisdiction or its legislative scheme. When the consultation concerns a change provided for in the preceding paragraph and is organized on the proposal of the Government, the latter makes a statement before each assembly, which is followed by a debate.
Article 73.
In the overseas departments and regions, laws and regulations are automatically applicable. They can be adapted to the particular characteristics and constraints of these communities.
These adaptations may be decided by these communities in the areas in which their powers are exercised and if they have been authorized, as the case may be, by the law or the by-law.
By way of derogation from the first subparagraph and to take account of their specificities, the authorities governed by this Article may be empowered, as the case may be, by law or by the regulation, to lay down the rules applicable in their territory, in a limited number of matters that may fall within the scope of the law or regulation.
These rules can not relate to nationality, civil rights, guarantees of civil liberties, the state and capacity of persons, the organization of justice, criminal law, criminal procedure, foreign policy, defense, public security and order, money, credit and foreign exchange, and the electoral law. This enumeration may be specified and supplemented by an organic law.
The provision provided for in the two preceding paragraphs is not applicable to the department and the region of Reunion.
The authorizations provided for in the second and third paragraphs are decided, at the request of the community concerned, under the conditions and under the reservations provided for by an organic law. They can not intervene when the essential conditions for the exercise of a public freedom or a constitutionally guaranteed right are involved.
The creation by law of a collectivity substituting for a department and an overseas region or the institution of a deliberative assembly unique for these two communities can not intervene without having been collected, according to the forms provided for in the second paragraph of section 72-4, the consent of the electors registered in the jurisdiction of those communities.
Article 74.
The overseas communities governed by this article have a status that takes into account the interests of each of them within the Republic.
This status is defined by an organic law, adopted after consulting the deliberative assembly, which sets:
the conditions under which the laws and regulations apply;
the skills of this community; subject to those already exercised by it, the transfer of powers of the State may not relate to the matters listed in the fourth paragraph of Article 73, specified and supplemented, where appropriate, by the organic law;
the rules of organization and operation of the institutions of the community and the electoral system of its deliberative assembly;
the conditions under which its institutions are consulted on bills and proposals for legislation and draft ordinances or decrees containing specific provisions for the community, as well as on the ratification or approval of international commitments concluded in matters falling within of its competence.
The organic law can also determine, for those of these self-governing communities, the conditions under which:
the Council of State exercises a specific judicial control over certain categories of acts of the deliberative assembly intervening in respect of the competences it exercises in the field of the law;
the deliberative assembly can modify a law promulgated after the entry into force of the statute of the collectivity, when the Constitutional Council, seized in particular by the authorities of the collectivity, found that the law had intervened in the field of competence of this community;
measures justified by local needs may be taken by the community in favor of its population, in terms of access to employment, right of establishment for the exercise of a professional activity or protection of land assets;
the community can participate, under the control of the State, in the exercise of the competences that it preserves, in the respect of the guarantees granted on the whole national territory for the exercise of the civil liberties.
The other methods of the particular organization of the communities covered by this article are defined and modified by law after consulting their deliberative assembly.
Article 74-1.
In the overseas collectivities referred to in Article 74 and in New Caledonia, the Government may, by ordinance, in matters which remain under the jurisdiction of the State, extend, with the necessary modifications, the provisions of legislative nature in force in mainland France or adapting the provisions of a legislative nature in force to the particular organization of the collectivity concerned, provided that the law has not expressly excluded, for the provisions in question, recourse to this procedure.
Orders are made in the Council of Ministers after consulting the deliberative assemblies concerned and the Council of State. They come into force as soon as they are published. They lapse in the absence of ratification by Parliament within eighteen months of publication.
Article 75.
Citizens of the Republic who do not have ordinary civil status, the only one referred to in Article 34, retain their personal status as long as they have not renounced it.
Article 75-1.
The regional languages โโbelong to the heritage of France.
Title XIII – TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO NEW CALEDONIA
Article 76.
The populations of New Caledonia are called upon to decide before 31 December 1998 on the provisions of the agreement signed in Noumea on 5 May 1998 and published on 27 May 1998 in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Candidates are eligible to participate in the ballot if they fulfill the conditions set out in Article 2 of Law No. 88-1028 of 9 November 1988.
The measures necessary for the organization of the vote are taken by decree in Council of State deliberated in the Council of Ministers.
Article 77.
After approval of the agreement during the consultation provided for in article 76, the organic law, taken after the opinion of the deliberative assembly of New Caledonia, determines, to ensure the evolution of New Caledonia in the respect the guidelines defined by this agreement and in the manner necessary for its implementation:
the powers of the State which will be definitively transferred to the institutions of New Caledonia, the staggering and the modalities of these transfers, as well as the distribution of the burdens resulting from them;
the rules of organization and operation of the institutions of New Caledonia and in particular the conditions under which certain categories of acts of the deliberative assembly of New Caledonia may be submitted before publication to the control of the Constitutional Council;
rules relating to citizenship, electoral system, employment and customary civil status;
the conditions and deadlines in which the interested populations of New Caledonia will have to decide on the accession to full sovereignty.
Other measures necessary for the implementation of the agreement referred to in Article 76 shall be defined by law.
For the definition of the electorate elected to elect the members of the deliberative assemblies of New Caledonia and the provinces, the table to which refer the agreement mentioned in article 76 and articles 188 and 189 of the organic law n ยฐ 99 -209 of 19 March 1999 on New Caledonia is the table drawn up on the occasion of the ballot provided for in Article 76 and comprising persons who are not allowed to take part in it.
Title XIV – FRANCOPHONIE AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENTS
Article 87.
The Republic participates in the development of solidarity and cooperation between states and peoples with French as a common language.
Article 88.
The Republic may enter into agreements with States wishing to associate with it to develop their civilizations.
Title XV – THE EUROPEAN UNION
Article 88-1.
The Republic participates in the European Union consisting of States which have freely chosen to exercise jointly certain of their powers under the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as they result of the Treaty signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007.
Article 88-2.
The law lays down the rules on the European arrest warrant in accordance with the acts of the institutions of the European Union.
Article 88-3.
Subject to reciprocity and in the manner provided for by the Treaty on European Union signed on 7 February 1992 , the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in municipal elections may be granted only to Union citizens residing in France. These citizens can not serve as mayor or deputy nor participate in the appointment of senatorial electors and the election of senators. An organic law passed in the same terms by the two assemblies determines the conditions of application of this article.
Article 88-4.
The Government submits to the National Assembly and to the Senate, as soon as they are transmitted to the Council of the European Union, the draft European legislative acts and the other projects or proposals for acts of the European Union.
In accordance with the rules laid down in the Rules of Procedure of each Assembly, European resolutions may be adopted, if necessary outside the sessions, on the projects or proposals referred to in the first paragraph, as well as on any document emanating from an institution of the Union. European.
Within each parliamentary assembly a commission for European affairs is set up.
Article 88-5.
Any bill authorizing the ratification of a treaty relating to the accession of a State to the European Union is submitted to referendum by the President of the Republic.
However, by voting on a motion adopted in identical terms by each assembly by a three-fifths majority, Parliament may authorize the adoption of the bill in accordance with the procedure provided for in the third paragraph of section 89.
[This article is not applicable to accessions following an intergovernmental conference whose convocation was decided by the European Council before 1 July 2004.]
Article 88-6.
The National Assembly or the Senate may issue a reasoned opinion on the conformity of a draft European legislative act with the principle of subsidiarity. The opinion is sent by the President of the Assembly concerned to the Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission. The Government is informed.
Each Assembly may appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union against a European legislative act for breach of the principle of subsidiarity. This appeal is transmitted to the Court of Justice of the European Union by the Government.
To this end, resolutions may be adopted, if necessary outside the sessions, according to the methods of initiative and discussion fixed by the rules of each assembly. At the request of sixty deputies or sixty senators, the remedy is ex officio.
Article 88-7.
By the vote of a motion adopted in identical terms by the National Assembly and the Senate, the Parliament may object to a modification of the rules for the adoption of European Union acts in the cases envisaged, under the simplified revision of the Treaties or judicial cooperation by the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as they result from the Treaty signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007.
Title XVI – REVISION
Article 89.
The initiative for the revision of the Constitution belongs concurrently to the President of the Republic on the proposal of the Prime Minister and members of Parliament.
The draft or the proposal for revision must be examined under the conditions of time set in the third paragraph of Article 42 and voted by both assemblies in identical terms. The review is final after being approved by referendum.
However, the draft revision is not presented to the referendum when the President of the Republic decides to submit it to the Parliament convened in Congress; in this case, the draft revision is approved only if it receives a three-fifths majority of the votes cast. The bureau of the Congress is that of the National Assembly.
No review procedure may be initiated or continued where the integrity of the territory is impaired.
The republican form of the Government can not be revised.
