Congress, sealing… What are the ultimate steps to incorporate abortion within the Constitution? | EUROtoday

The modification of the Constitution is getting into its closing stretch. Once the essential stage of the Senate has been accomplished, Parliament meets on Monday, March 4, in Congress on the Palace of Versailles to ratify the inclusion of the proper to abortion within the Basic Law.

The 577 deputies and 348 senators in addition to the members of the federal government are anticipated one hour earlier than the opening of the session at 3:30 p.m. within the imposing Congress corridor. “The first particularity of a Congress is the location. The session takes place in the only hemicycle in the national territory capable of accommodating 925 parliamentarians,” recollects Thibaud Mulier, lecturer in public legislation on the University of Paris Nanterre. .

Nestled within the South wing of the Palace of Versailles, the Congress Hall was constructed by the architect Edmond de Joly in 1875 on the institution of the III^e Republic in an effort to accommodate the Chamber of Deputies. Subsequently, all of the presidents of the III^e and IV^e Republics had been elected on this place.

“The other specificity concerns the presidency of the Congress, which falls to the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet. Since the 1960s, the Congress has had internal regulations distinct from those of the Senate and that of the National Assembly”, explains Thibaud Mulier. “On the other hand, the President of the Republic does not have the right to enter Congress, in the name of the separation of powers.”

Since 2008, in keeping with article 18 of the Constitution, the president can nevertheless resolve to summon parliamentarians in an effort to communicate to the nationwide illustration – which Emmanuel Macron did in 2017 and 2018. The session can then be adopted by a debate within the absence of the Head of State and with out it giving rise to a closing vote.

As the Public Senate web site factors out, parliamentarians will sit on Monday in alphabetical order, and never by political group as is the case throughout the periods of the 2 chambers of Parliament. After a speech by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and speeches by a number of deputies and senators, the vote will start at 5:30 p.m.

“All parliamentarians will then have to get up to go to two adjoining rooms and vote electronically. To be ratified, the modification of the Constitution must be adopted by a qualified majority, or three-fifths,” explains Thibaud Mulier.

A priori there may be little doubt in regards to the end result of the vote. The revision, already adopted by a big majority by the National Assembly, additionally obtained the assist of 267 senators. The outcomes are anticipated to be introduced at 6:30 p.m.

A uncommon however not distinctive occasion

In France, the final modification of the Constitution dates again to 2008. Initiated below the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, it aimed to modernize the establishments and stays by its scale some of the vital within the historical past of the V^e Republic.

“The current revision of the Constitution to introduce the right to abortion only concerns the addition of a paragraph in article 34. With that of 2008, almost half of the articles of the Constitution are have been revised. This previous revision appears more technical and removed from considerations relating to individual and collective rights and freedoms but it includes real progress, such as the introduction of the Priority Question of Constitutionality (QPC)”, believes Thibaud Mulier.

The QPC notably introduces the proper for any litigant to refer the matter to the Constitutional Council to contest a legislative provision relevant to their case. From 2010 to 2020, the Constitutional Council rendered greater than 740 choices on these citizen questions.

If a modification of the Constitution stays a uncommon republican ritual, it however seems much less and fewer distinctive. The tempo of revisions has certainly accelerated significantly lately. While from 1958 to 1991, the Constitution had undergone solely 5 revisions, it has recorded 19 from 1992 to at present, to the purpose that some jurists communicate of a “trivialization” of the occasion.

“In 65 years, there have already been 24 revisions. This is a lot for a relatively young text. At the same time, these modifications are not decorative, they have served to enrich the catalog of guaranteed rights and freedoms and have enabled to adhere to treaties, notably the European Union”, notes Thibaud Mulier.

The process for revising the Constitution is supplied for in Article 89. Two varieties of revision are potential. The so-called “normal” process is initiated by Parliament and requires recourse to a referendum. The “abbreviated” process is initiated by the President of the Republic and permits Congress to undertake the constitutional legislation. The competence of Congress is, nevertheless, restricted to the venture submitted to it. Parliamentarians can solely undertake or refuse the revision, with out modifying a comma of the proposed textual content.

The Sealing Ceremony

After the inexperienced gentle from Congress anticipated on Monday, the constitutional legislation will probably be promulgated. Finally, one other solemn occasion ought to happen the next week: the sealing ceremony. This will happen on the Chancellery within the presence of the President of the Republic and the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti.

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On this event, the Minister of Justice won’t ever have lived as much as his identify so effectively. It is he who could have the distinction of affixing the official Republican seal to the textual content, making it potential to authenticate the modification of the Constitution. A apply with medieval overtones recalling that state energy has usually taken the type of sealed acts all through History.

To perform this ritual, an distinctive machine will come into motion. Commissioned in 1810 by the jurisconsult and statesman Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, it was constructed to represent the authority of Emperor Napoleon I^er. Apart from an exhibition organized in 2013 on the National Archives, the press by no means leaves the workplace of the Minister of Justice, Place Vendôme in Paris.

Its final use dates again to 2008 when the present Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, held the place of Keeper of the Seals. Despite the passage of time, there isn’t a want to fret throughout this ceremony. According to the newspaper Le Parisien, Éric Dupond-Moretti rushed after the Senate's favorable vote to examine its good working situation.