More than three weeks after his re-election, the President of the Republic has still not revealed the composition of the next executive, fueling rumors about his political strategy. However, as announced by franceinfo, France will therefore have a new Prime Minister, replacing Jean Castex. What is the role and what are the powers of the head of government? franceinfo explains to you.
How is it named?
If we take things in order, it is worth remembering that the Prime Minister is not elected. He is appointed, chosen, by the President of the Republic. There is no mandatory deadline for this appointment. The Head of State can thus choose, even if it is not an obligation, a personality resulting from the majority sensitivity elected to the National Assembly. The objective is not to arouse hostility from a majority of parliamentarians since Parliament controls the action of the government and may be led to overthrow it.
Once the head of government has been appointed, the ministers must be chosen. It is he, the head of government, who then proposes names to the head of state. However, it is the President of the Republic who, here again, appoints the ministers, and who moreover officially terminates their functions.
Once appointed, he then becomes the second person in the State, after the President of the Republic and before the President of the Senate. In total, since the beginning of the Fifth Republic, there have been 23 personalities – including only one woman, Edith Cresson – who have been appointed to this post. Once his career is over, he or she can, moreover, keep the official title of former Prime Minister.
What are its specific missions?
The Prime Minister is first of all the head of a collective, of this collegiate body that is the government. He is the leader of a team which, according to the Constitution, must “determine and conduct the policy of the Nation“. The latter then directs the action of the government, ensures its cohesion, its coordination. He decides if there are arbitrations to be made, in particular to avoid that two ministers take contradictory decisions. He is also responsible for national defense He lives and works at the Hotel de Matignon, rue de Varenne, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, as has been the tradition since 1935.
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To help him in his daily missions, he has his own departments, starting with his office: a chief of staff, a chief of staff, advisers or project managers. It also has a General Secretariat of the Government which, among other things, manages the agenda, as well as a Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, which is traditionally held on Wednesdays.
The Prime Minister must also ensure the application of the laws. He also shares with the President of the Republic what is called an “autonomous regulatory power”, that is to say the power to decide, in certain cases and subject to what the Constitution specifies, on certain rules. We saw this clearly during the Covid-19 health crisis.
To whom is he responsible?
On the political level, the members of the government, including the Prime Minister, are responsible to the National Assembly and not to the Head of State. In practice, however, a government can be strongly urged by the Head of State to resign.
Finally, on the criminal level, Prime Minister, Ministers and Secretaries of State can be judged by the Court of Justice of the Republic, for crimes and misdemeanors committed in the exercise of their functions. This is made up of political and judicial personalities, namely twelve parliamentarians elected by the National Assembly and the Senate and three sitting magistrates at the Court of Cassation, one of whom presides over the Court.