“The behavior of political actors is in contradiction with what legal standards provide” | EUROtoday

Lhe resignation letter despatched this Monday, January 8, by Elisabeth Borne to the President of the Republic illustrates an unconstitutional observe of establishments: the conduct of political actors is in contradiction with what authorized requirements present.

The phrases of the letter are unambiguous. It begins like this: “You told me of your desire to appoint a new prime minister” to finish with “While I must present the resignation of my government, I wanted to tell you how passionate I was about this mission…”

These formulation distinction with the phrases of Article 8 of the Constitution regarding the appointment and resignation of the Prime Minister. According to this text, if “the President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister”, “he terminates his functions upon the presentation by him of the resignation of the government”. Reading the constitutional textual content, it’s due to this fact as much as the Prime Minister to resolve to resign and to not be pressured to resign, as betrayed – fairly intentionally, clearly – by the phrases of the letter despatched by Elisabeth Borne to Emmanuel Macron .

A “blank” letter

More usually, we will solely be shocked by the hole that separates the provisions of the Constitution from sure behaviors of political actors. Thus article 5 of the Constitution, which confers on the President of the Republic an arbitration function with the intention to make sure the common functioning of public authorities, whereas the latter, removed from being an arbiter, is a political chief who intends to hold out this system on which he was elected. Thus article 20, which gives that the federal government determines and conducts the coverage of the nation, whereas in observe it’s the President of the Republic who’s in cost. This can be the case with the second paragraph of Article 8, which specifies that the Prime Minister proposes to the President the members of his authorities, whereas they’re most frequently imposed on him by the latter.

Of course, these practices usually are not new. It is usually stated that, on the day of his appointment, the Prime Minister indicators a letter of resignation ” in white “ who will thus be on the disposal of the President of the Republic. In this case, it will likely be famous that the phrases of Elisabeth Borne’s resignation letter are very near these utilized by Michel Rocard in 1991, who didn’t hesitate to acknowledge, just a few years later, that he had been purely and easily dismissed by the President of the Republic.

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