five questions on the management of “current affairs” for which ministers are responsible

Nine days after the second round of the legislative elections, Emmanuel Macron will accept the resignation of the Prime Minister and his government. Gabriel Attal and his team, however, retain several prerogatives.

It was a matter of hours. Presented for the first time the day after the legislative elections, but immediately refused, the resignation of Gabriel Attal’s government was accepted on the evening of Tuesday, July 16 by Emmanuel Macron, the Elysée announced in a press release. The government is therefore responsible for “processing of current affairs until the appointment of a new government”.

In fact, a resigning government “remains in place, until replaced by a new government, to ensure, in the name of continuity, the minimal functioning of the State”explains a note from the general secretariat of the government (SGG) dated July 2, of which AFP and France Télévisions obtained a copy. Franceinfo answers five questions on this particular institutional situation.

What does “current affairs” mean?

According to the SGG, current affairs cover on the one hand the “ordinary business” who participate in “the normal functioning of the State” and do not require “no appreciation of a political nature”and on the other the “urgent business”the adoption of which is dictated by “an urgent necessity” (state of emergency, natural disaster, disturbance of public order, intelligence techniques for example). “In the event of a crisis, the offices will continue to work. We will remain alert”assures one of the ministers of the Attal government to franceinfo.

Nothing prevents the President of the Republic from convening a Council of Ministers, but often with an agenda “particularly light”The Head of State may continue to make appointments except “the most politically sensitive” (for example those of central administration directors), underlines the SGG. The longer the periods of current affairs, the more this notion was broadened with extended prerogatives, the SGG also notes.

Can the resigning government present new bills?

No government in caretaker affairs has presented a bill under the Fifth Republic, because all legislative measures are held “for important and politically sensitive”recalls the general secretariat of the government. Such a government also avoids holding inter-ministerial meetings to “do not multiply unnecessary work”given that the next team could challenge the decisions made.

There are, however, two main exceptions listed by the government’s general secretariat. The first concerns the need to take urgent financial measures, such as providing France with a budget. The second relates to the “necessity, in the event of a crisis, to extend a declaration of a state of emergency beyond twelve days”. Furthermore, “there has never been, during the period of dealing with current affairs, (…) a bill adopted by Parliament”recalls the SGG.

Will the ministers elected as deputies regain their seats in the National Assembly?

Yes. As soon as the government’s resignation is accepted, the 17 ministers of the Attal government elected as deputies will regain their parliamentary mandate. They will be able to vote in the National Assembly, starting with the session that opens on Thursday, in particular on the highly sensitive distribution of positions such as the presidency of the hemicycle. Gabriel Attal thus becomes both the resigning Prime Minister and the president of the Ensemble pour la République group (ex-Renaissance), which raises the question of the separation of powers.

“It’s a way of torturing the lawexplains constitutionalist Benjamin Morel in Release. Because the Constitution of the Fifth Republic is really written and designed to prevent the accumulation of the office of minister and the parliamentary mandate. Legally, it can hold, but it poses major democratic problems and the balance of the regime.”

If they become deputies again, the ministers of the resigning government will therefore not be able to respond to the parliamentarians, who are used to questioning them every week. “We will not be able to question them during questions to the government. Economic fear is growing, social dissatisfaction is there, the subject of debt too… But the no man’s land that is being created is very bad.”complains Philippe Gosselin, LR MP for Manche, to franceinfo.

Can the resigning government be overthrown?

No. “In a parliamentary regime like that of the Fifth Republic, logic dictates that a government should use political power because it is likely to see its responsibility engaged before the National Assembly. This is therefore not the case for a government that has already resigned.”specifies to The Express Anne Levade, professor of public law.

This is also one of the reasons why the government cannot present a text to the Council of Ministers. “It may seem inappropriate to seize Parliament when it is deprived of its strongest prerogative, namely the possibility of overthrowing the government”explains the SGG. In the same way, the government cannot use article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows a text to be adopted without a vote.

How long will this situation last?

This is the great unknown. There is no time limit to this situation, which will last until the appointment of the next government, and not only until the new Prime Minister. However, while no political force has obtained an absolute majority following the legislative elections, negotiations are still stumbling on the left over the name of a Prime Minister to propose to Emmanuel Macron, while the “legislative pact” drawn up by the right to serve as a basis for negotiations with the presidential camp is far from being realized.

According to several ministerial sources at AFP and France Télévisions, Emmanuel Macron suggested that this situation could “to last a certain time”, “a few weeks”presumably until the end of the Olympic Games, whose closing ceremony takes place on August 11. “In summer, in fact, it works in slow motion”puts into perspective the government minister, who imagines what will happen next: “A new government will have to be there by the end of August, beginning of September. In mid-September, there is a presentation of the budget to the Council of Ministers, before it is submitted to the committee. We must also respect this timetable.”