When the Pompidou government was overthrown on October 5, 1962, Michel Barnier had just started college for the first time. When deputies from the left and the far right combine their voices to bring him down on December 4, 2024, he is a few weeks away from celebrating his 74th birthday. In the meantime, six decades have passed without any government being censored. In the meantime, six decades have passed without any government being censored. But then, do we know how to manage such a crisis? For several days, elected officials and political leaders have been looking for instructions.
The task turns out to be more difficult than expected. Today’s maelstrom is not a copy of the crisis of 1962. Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and his government were not censored on a budgetary text and General de Gaulle was able to dissolve the National Assembly, and regain a majority. Options that Emmanuel Macron does not have, forced to wait until July to call new legislative elections. Unless…
Self-dissolution, or the inapplicable idea
Since the government censorship, a Lépine competition seems to have been launched. The stated objective: to find the institutional innovation that will allow France to emerge from the crisis in which it has become stuck. And some are original to say the least. Like the proposal from the deputy for French people abroad Stéphane Vojetta. Related to the former presidential majority, the elected official calls on his 576 colleagues at the Palais Bourbon to… resign. A form of “self-dissolution” which would require the organization of 577 partial legislative elections.
If the idea has the merit of being innovative, it appears in every way inapplicable. First of all, this would assume that all elected officials play the game. However, with such a fractured chamber which has not been able to agree on a budgetary text, the chances of such a consensus being obtained are slim, or even non-existent. Then, “the partial legislative elections take place within three months, which would mean not having a National Assembly during this time, and therefore no 2025 budget before the spring”, underlines Guillaume Drago, professor of law public at the Panthéon-Assas Paris II University.
The Milei-style chainsaw?
This Thursday, December 5, at nightfall, a new proposal was added to the ideas box. If the National Assembly fails to pass a new law, why not “launch a major national operation to simplify standards and all our legislative texts”, declares Guillaume Chaban-Delmas on his X account. In his message, the municipal councilor of Bordeaux makes a direct reference to Argentina, where drastic reforms were initiated by Javier Milei at the end of 2023.
If the idea seems to have been born at the Ministry of Civil Service under Michel Barnier – Guillaume Kasbarian congratulated Elon Musk after his appointment to the Ministry of Government Effectiveness and said he was impatient to “share best practices to fight against excess of bureaucracy” – it seems out of step with the issues raised at the Palais Bourbon. “The National Assembly is paralyzed because the elected officials did not want to enter into a logic of compromise”, explained to The Express Benjamin Morel, lecturer in public law at the University of Paris-Panthéon-Assas.
“The solution must first be political”
However, simplifying the texts will not strengthen cohesion between the different chapels of the lower house. “The solution is more political than legal-institutional,” pose several constitutionalists with one voice. Shortly before the overthrow of the executive, Boris Vallaud, for example, put forward the idea of a “non-censorship pact”. Understand, the commitment not to bring down the government over a predefined period of time. The leader of the socialist deputies was received at the Elysée at lunchtime this Friday. At his side, the boss of the pink party, Olivier Faure, who the same morning said he was open to a “fixed-term contract” with the common base fire.
Implicitly, negotiate on a certain number of subjects with the presidential camp and the Republicans with a view to the formation of a future government. “Above all, political proposals which have no possible legal translation,” deciphers Denys de Béchillon, professor of public law at the University of Pau. Thus, the life expectancy of such agreements would be based on a relationship of trust between the protagonists and on moral commitment to their voters. “That political leaders understood that the answer to the problem was not in changing the rules but in a new way of doing politics is good news,” rejoices the constitutionalist.
Avoid legislating on the spot
While it may seem natural that a wind of panic is blowing across the country at a time when an unprecedented political crisis is affecting it, “let’s be careful not to propagate fanciful ideas”, pleads Guillaume Drago in the wake of Denys de Béchillon who insists: “There are rules of the game, and it is more than ever the time to respect them: History shows that the Fifth Republic is very susceptible to crises. The Algerian War, May 1968, three cohabitation… Everything has always happened in a democratically acceptable way.”
So, at a time when temptations to “tweak” the Constitution are rife, Denys de Béchillon warns: “Abandoning or modifying the rules that protect us from chaos in troubled times is a very bad idea.” Constructive German-style motion of censure, early dissolution… So many proposals which, apart from their low impact on the current crisis, require a constitutional revision. An enterprise which, faced with the appearance of the parliamentary chambers, is a mission impossible. A caped source smiles: “So much the better, right?”