Institutions

• Constitution

In 1958, a new Constitution prepared by the government of general de Gaule was approved by referendum. It came into force on 4^th of October 1958. Since then, it has been revised many times, the most fundamental reforms being those of 1962 (the President of the Republic is elected by universal direct suffrage), 1992 (the competences of the European Union are introduced into the Constitution, with a view  to the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty), 2000 (reduction of the presidential mandate from 7 to 5 years), and 2003 (the organization of the Republic becomes decentralized).

• The President  

Elected for 5 years on universal direct suffrage; he appoints the Prime Minister and on his suggestion, the members of the government. He promulgates the laws and can submit a bill to referendum. He can call for the dissolution of the National Assembly. In certain serious cases, he can undertake necessary measures after consulting the Prime Minister as well as the presidents of the Assemblies and the Constitutional Council. 

• The government

The government is responsible before the National Assembly which can topple the government by voting a censure motion or by refusing to pass a vote of confidence. The Prime Minister is then constrained to hand over the resignation of his government to the President of the Republic. Ministers and secretaries of State are nominated by the head of State under proposal of the Prime Minister. They all have the right to be called "ministers".  

• The  Parliament 

The Parliament, which consists of the National Assembly (elected for 5 years on direct suffrage) and the Senate (elected for 6 years, renewed every 3 years by half, on indirect suffrage), exercises the legislative power. The Constitution also defines the composition and the powers of the Constitutional Council, the Magistrates’ Council, the High Court of Justice, the Court of Justice and the Economic and Social council.                                   

• Justice

As a general rule, the French court system is organized with three degrees of jurisdiction:        - the first degree hears the case when it is first brought up;        - the second degree (appel) hears appeals against the decisions of the first degree;        - the third degree (cassation) hears appeals against the interpretation of the law by the second degree courts. In France, there are civil courts, criminal courts and administrative courts. There are also financial and commercial juridictions. 

• Religious structures

In Metropolitan France, the administration of the Roman Catholic Church, whose baptized believers represent between 80 and 85% of the population, is divided in 93 territorial dioceses, consolidated in 15 ecclesiastic provinces and 9 apostolic regions. Protestants (between 900,000 and 1 million believers) are divided into several communities, which are members of the French Protestant Federation. Islam is now the second religion in the country with more than 4 millions of believers. It is divided into different groups, which are represented within the French Council of Muslim Religion. Jewish communities (between 500,000 and 600,000 believers) are divided between the two major traditions Ashkenazi and Sefarades, but they don’t have any centralised and hierarchical religious administration.

Sources: Larousse Encyclopedic dictionary and " The french institutions of 5^th Republic ", Bernard de Gunten, Arlette Martin and Mauricette Niogret. Photos: © F. de la Mure / Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs