States of emergency in France explained

States of emergency in France (French: état d'urgence) are dispositions to grant special powers to the executive branch in case of exceptional circumstances. A state of emergency was declared following the November 2015 Paris attacks, which expired, after five extensions, in November 2017.[1] [2] [3]

Four main provisions concern various kinds of "states of emergency" in France: two of those stem from the Constitution of France, and the other two from a statute:

There are distinctions between article 16, article 36, and the 1955 Act, which concern mainly the distribution of powers. These dispositions have been used at various times, in 1955, 1958, 1961, 1988, 2005, 2015 and 2017.

Legal framework

The French constitution, adopted in October 1958, was drafted taking into account the difficulties experienced by the executive in 1940 during the Battle of France and the contemporary state of affairs, namely the Algerian war.

Article 16 of the Constitution – French: Pouvoirs exceptionnels

Article 16 of the constitution[5] grants the President of France "extraordinary powers" in exceptional cases, leading to an effective "state of exception":

The conditions are both that the state is confronted with exceptional circumstances and that the regular institutions are disrupted and cannot govern effectively.[6] This article of the constitution of the French Fifth Republic has been qualified as "liberticide" by critics. Invoked on 23 April 1961 during the Algerian War; normal functioning of institutions was quickly restored.

In the judgment French: Rubin de Servens of 2 March 1962, the judged that it could not itself invoke Article 16, as that constituted an "act of government". Furthermore, the State Council considered that it could only pronounce on rulings which were not legislative acts carried out during this period. Thus, a legislative measure (although the role of Parliament is not specified, just that it is not to be dissolved) which breaches fundamental liberties cannot be appealed against before the State Council.

In 1972, the Common Programme of the Left (issued from an alliance between the Socialist Party and the Communist Party) proposed to repeal Article 16. However, François Mitterrand's programme for the socialist presidential campaign in 1981, that he eventually won, did not include this proposition. In 1992, the socialist government of French: [[Pierre Bérégovoy]] proposed to amend this article during a project of constitutional reform; however, the project was not implemented. Also in 1992, the French: Vedel Commission, created by French: François Mitterrand|italic=no, proposed to give to the French: [[Conseil Constitutionnel]] (Constitutional Council), on the concerted initiative of the president of the Republic and the presidents of both chambers (the French: [[Assemblée nationale (France)|Assemblée nationale]] and the French: [[Senate (France)|Sénat]]), the mission to determine that the conditions required for the use of Article 16 were, in fact, met.

On 23 July 2008, a constitutional act was passed which, among other amendments, added a paragraph to Article 16 of the constitution[7] which stated that after 30 days the Constitutional Council can be requested to determine in a public ruling whether or not the conditions that justified the use of Article 16 are still current. At any time beyond 60 days, the Council rules on this issue without the need for a referral.

Article 36 of the Constitution – French: État de siège

Article 36 of the constitution is concerned with the state of siege (which can be decreed by the president in the Council of Ministers for a period of twelve days and which can only be extended with the approval of Parliament. A state of siege may be declared in case of an "imminent peril resulting from a foreign war [''{{lang|fr|guerre étrangère}}'', or simply "war"] or an armed rebellion (French: une insurrection à main armée).[8]

Military authorities may take police powers if they judge it necessary. Fundamental liberties may be restricted, such as the right of association, legalization of searches in private places day and night, the power to expel people who have been condemned for common law matters or people who do not have the right of residence in the territory, etc.

Statute provisions – French: État d'urgence

The state of emergency in France is framed by the Law n°55-385 of 3 April 1955 (pre-dating the constitution of the Fifth Republic) and modeled on the "French: état de siège". It was created in the context of the Algerian War, to allow the authorities to manage the crisis without having to declare the "French: état de siège", which allows the military to take over a large part of the civilian authorities and which was conceived for wartime.

The 1955 statute states that the state of emergency can be decreed by the president in the Council of Ministers. The decision to proclaim the state of emergency can only last for 12 days. To extend the state of emergency for a longer period of time necessitates a law passed regularly through the Parliament.

Proclaiming the state of emergency gives exceptional powers to the Minister of the Interior and to prefects. The Minister can pronounce house arrests. The prefects can regulate or forbid circulation and gathering in some areas: the power of curfew, which mayors can pronounce for the territory of their city independently of the state of emergency, is extended to prefects.

The Minister and the prefects can, for the part of the territory concerned by the state of emergency, order places of gathering to be closed. Authorities can also order that legally-detained weapons be relinquished to them. There is no need for the administration to motivate its decisions: house arrests or decisions forbidding someone to enter a defined area can be appealed.

All of those powers are not enacted by the simple proclamation of the state of emergency but may be decided by the authorities if the need arises.

If the decree, or later, the law, says so, the authorities can:

Article 12 of the 1955 law allows, if a decree specifically provides it, the transfer of some crimes from the judicial jurisdiction to that of the military.

This law is modeled after the society of the time, to deal with a specific crisis, and its objective was to prevent a civil war or very severe unrest emanating from a part of the population. Some parts have since become obsolete:

Sanitary state of emergency

To control the COVID-19 pandemic in France, the Parliament created a sanitary state of emergency (French: état d'urgence sanitaire). To protect public health, the prime minister can:

This state of emergency is framed by the law of 23 March 2020 and can be declared in the Council of Ministers for a period of 2 months. Extensions to this must be voted for by Parliament.

Historical uses

Since 1955, a state of emergency has been decreed seven times:

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. News: France to extend state of emergency until presidential election.
  2. 'Frankrijk trekt onvoldoende lering uit de aanslagen' ('France learns not enough from the attacks'). NRC Handelsblad, 12 May 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016. François Heisbourg is cited as saying: "The state of emergency has now been extended twice, the last time until end of July 2016".
  3. Web site: Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control . . 15 September 2016.
  4. Web site: Loi n°55-385 du 3 avril 1955 instituant un état d'urgence et en déclarant l'application en Algérie . Law number 55-385 of 3 April 1955 instituting a state of emergency and declaring its application in Algeria . fr . . 29 March 2011.
  5. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/Droit-francais/Constitution/Constitution-du-4-octobre-1958#ancre2178_0_3_16 Text of the Article 16
  6. http://www.vie-publique.fr/decouverte-institutions/institutions/approfondissements/pouvoirs-exceptionnels-du-president.html Les pouvoirs exceptionnels du président
  7. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=20080724&numTexte=2&pageDebut=11890&pageFin=11895 Loi constitutionnelle no 2008-724 du 23 juillet 2008 de modernisation des institutions de la Ve République
  8. La mise en oeuvre de l'état d'urgence [Putting in place a state of emergency]
  9. Loi n° 2012-304 du 6 mars 2012 French: relative à l'établissement d'un contrôle des armes moderne, simplifié et préventif [Law number 2012-304 of 6 March 2012 on the establishment of a modern arms control, simplified and preventive]
  10. Web site: fr. Code de la santé publique - Article L3131-15.
  11. Government and Press in France During the Algerian War . Martin . Harrison . . 58 . 2 . June 1964 . 273–285 . . 1952862 . 10.2307/1952862.
  12. Web site: French emergency state ruled legal . . . 10 December 2005 . 22 February 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060905201704/http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2381422005 . 5 September 2006 .
  13. News: Etat d'urgence justifié pour le ministère de l'Intérieur . State of emergency justified for the Ministry of Interior . Indymedia Paris Île-de-France . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130616075511/http://paris.indymedia.org/article.php3?id_article=47874 . 16 June 2013 .
  14. Web site: Le Conseil d'Etat refuse de suspendre l'état d'urgence . The Council of State refuses to suspend the state of emergency . . 9 December 2005 . 29 March 2011 .
  15. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/decret/2015/11/14/INTD1527633D/jo/texte First decree
  16. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/decret/2015/11/14/INTD1527634D/jo/texte Second decree
  17. News: Etat d'urgence: 3.021 perquisitions, 500 armes découvertes . State of Emergency: 3021 house raid, 500 weapons discovered . 4 November 2016 . . 12 January 2016.
  18. News: Another attack in France . 23 July 2016 . . 23 July 2016 .
  19. Web site: Prolongation de l’état d’urgence: réponse à la menace terroriste ou 'effet de communication'? . Extension of the state of emergency: response to the terrorist threat or "communication effect"? . . 15 July 2016 . 28 September 2016 . fr .
  20. News: France’s real state of emergency . Kassem . Ramzi . 4 August 2016 . . 0362-4331 . 28 September 2016 .
  21. News: France’s Macron seeks to extend state of emergency to November.
  22. News: France extends emergency rule until 1 Nov.. 7 July 2017. Reuters. 2017.
  23. News: France approves tough new anti-terror laws. 4 October 2017. BBC News. 4 October 2017.
  24. News: Two years after the Paris attacks, France ends state of emergency. 5 November 2017. Reuters. 1 November 2017.
  25. News: 16 May 2024 . New Caledonia riots: France declares state of emergency, bans TikTok . 16 May 2024 . . en . 16 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240516151654/https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3262838/france-declares-state-emergency-bans-tiktok-new-caledonia-amid-deadly-riots . live .
  26. News: Australia's fresh travel warning for New Caledonia after state of emergency declared . 19 May 2024 . . . 16 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240518152738/https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australias-fresh-travel-warning-for-new-caledonia-after-state-of-emergency-declared/6n84zssa9 . 18 May 2024. live.