French Politics, Society and Culture Series. Titles include:

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1 French Politics, Society and Culture Series General Editor: Robert Elgie, Paddy Moriarty Professor of Government and International Studies, Dublin City University France has always fascinated outside observers. Now, the country is undergoing a period of profound transformation. France is faced with a rapidly changing international and European environment and it is having to rethink some of its most basic social, political and economic orthodoxies. As elsewhere, there is pressure to conform. And yet, while France is responding in ways that are no doubt familiar to people in other European countries, it is also managing to maintain elements of its long-standing distinctiveness. Overall, it remains a place that is not exactly comme les autres. This new series examines all aspects of French politics, society and culture. In so doing it focuses on the changing nature of the French system as well as the established patterns of political, social and cultural life. Contributors to the series are encouraged to present new and innovative arguments so that the informed reader can learn and understand more about one of the most beguiling and compelling of all European countries. Titles include: Gill Allwood and Khursheed Wadia GENDER AND POLICY IN FRANCE Sylvain Brouard, Andrew M. Appleton, Amy G. Mazur (editors) THE FRENCH FIFTH REPUBLIC AT FIFTY Beyond Stereotypes June Burnham POLITICIANS, BUREAUCRATS AND LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS Lessons from Regional Planning in France Jean K. Chalaby THE DE GAULLE PRESIDENCY AND THE MEDIA Statism and Public Communications Pepper D. Culpepper, Bruno Palier and Peter A. Hall (editors) CHANGING FRANCE The Politics that Markets Make Gordon D. Cumming FRENCH NGOs IN THE GLOBAL ERA France s International Development Role David Drake FRENCH INTELLECTUALS AND POLITICS FROM THE DREYFUS AFFAIR TO THE OCCUPATION David Drake INTELLECTUALS AND POLITICS IN POST-WAR FRANCE Graeme Hayes ENVIRONMENTAL PROTEST AND THE STATE IN FRANCE

2 David J. Howarth THE FRENCH ROAD TO EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION Andrew Knapp PARTIES AND THE PARTY SYSTEM IN FRANCE A Disconnected Democracy? Michael S. Lewis-Beck (editor) THE FRENCH VOTER Before and After the 2002 Elections John Loughlin SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENT The French Experience Mairi Maclean and Joseph Szarka FRANCE ON THE WORLD STAGE Mairi Maclean, Charles Harvey and Jon Press BUSINESS ELITES AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN FRANCE AND THE UK Susan Milner and Nick Parsons (editors) REINVENTING FRANCE State and Society in the Twenty-First Century Gino G. Raymond THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY DURING THE FIFTH REPUBLIC A Crisis of Leadership and Ideology Paul Smith THE SENATE OF THE FIFTH FRENCH REPUBLIC Sarah Waters SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN FRANCE Towards a New Citizenship Reuben Y. Wong THE EUROPEANIZATION OF FRENCH FOREIGN POLICY France and the EU in East Asia French Politics, Society and Culture Series Standing Order ISBN hardcover Series Standing Order ISBN paperback (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

3 The Senate of the Fifth French Republic Paul Smith Senior Lecturer The University of Nottingham, UK palgrave macmillan

4 Paul Smith 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

5 For my father

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7 Contents List of Tables List of Maps Acknowledgements Abbreviations x xii xiii xiv Introduction 1 Part I - The Senate in the Fifth Republic 1 - Bicameralism and political culture in the French Republic 11 The constitution is the Senate A republican Grand Council of Notables 20 Absolute bicameralism 24 The Fourth Republic - Bayeux and its consequences 29 The provisional Council of the Republic 32 The return to De Gaulle and the Senate La restauration sénatoriale - writing the Senate in The revenge of the notables 42 Ostracism 45 Bayeux redux : renovation of the Senate The parliamentary other Normalisation 58 The bipolar trap 60 Une redoutable machine de guerre 63 Cohabitation and the Senate 65 Renovation versus reform 67 Recovery 71 vii

8 viii Contents 4 - Anomaly and apotheosis Une anomalie 76 Parity, décumul and Senate reform 77 Apotheosis - a senator at Matignon 79 Between hyperpresidentialism and parliamentary fetishism 83 Balladur II and the millefeuille territorial 88 Part II - Senators and the Senate 5 - Departments, seats and colleges 95 The Senate in a missed opportunity the loi Poncelet 102 The electoral colleges 107 The Raincourt proposal 117 Mayfly electors 119 Representing expatriates Les élus des élus 123 Continuity and change 128 Departmental turnover 131 Senators, ministers and suppléants 136 Deputies and senators 138 The cumul des mandats 142 Parity and sénatrices 144 Mortality, age and longevity 147 From a chambre d agriculture to the République des professeurs 151 Senators for French expatriates 152 Senate elections and the Constitutional Council Being a senator 157 Président de tous les sénateurs - the speaker of the Senate 158 Vingt-deux ans de présidence 161 From Poher to pohérisation 163 France s no.1 car dealer 166 A modest speaker for an ambitious Senate 168

9 Contents ix Un mandat de trop? 171 Mon bon Gérard 173 The executive bureau and the conférence des présidents 175 The Republic of committees 179 Political groups and political balance 181 La gauche au pouvoir? 187 Conclusion 191 A quoi sert le Sénat? 191 La chambre de tous les dangers 193 Notes 197 Select Bibliography 209 Index 215

10 List of Tables Table The Senate before and after 26 April 1959 (métropole) 43 Table Legislation passed Table Legislation passed Table Legislation passed Table Legislation adopted Table Legislation adopted Table Constitutional Revision in the Senate June/July Table Vote of Congress - 21 July Table The Paris region in Table Departments in Series 1 and 2 from Table Scale of municipal delegates 1983-present 109 Table Composition of Senate colleges ( ) 111 Table Expansion of departmental colleges Table Election in the Ain, September Table The rate of change at renouvellement Table Rate of departmental change Table The cumul des mandats December Table Women in the Senate Table Sénatrices by party and electoral method Table Average age of all senators Table Socio-professional composition of the Senate 152 Table Presidents of the Senate Table Presidential election first and second rounds 164 Table Vice-presidential elections Table The Senate bureau, February x

11 xi Tables Table Senate commissions and membership, February Table Political groups Table Political groups Table Political Groups Table Political groups Table Political groups Table Sortants in 2011 by group 188

12 List of Maps Map Metropolitan Seats in Map Series A, B and C, Map The 1976 distribution of seats 101 Map Distribution of seats from Map Series 1 and 2 from Map Magnitude of electoral colleges xii

13 Acknowledgements The Senate is a living assembly which continues to evolve within a political system that never ceases to change. Only last year the French parliament passed a bill making more than 30 amendments to the constitution, marking the 24 th revision since And as I was writing these words (in early March 2009), former prime minister Edouard Balladur was poised to deliver his report into the reform of local government, a matter which touches the hearts of the Senate and of senators very deeply. It is quite possible, too, that in a very short time the Senate, for so long a bastion of the right, will fall to the left. Exciting times indeed for Senate-watchers. (Both of us). The research on which this book is based has been funded by the British Academy and by my own institution, the University of Nottingham. I am naturally grateful to both. I have also received encouragement along the way from colleagues and friends too numerous to mention, but I am particularly grateful to Alain Delcamp, general-secretary of the Senate, for the support he has given my work and to Jean-Louis Hérin, director of the Senate s Service de la Séance, for sharing some insights with me and also providing a raft of statistics. Catherine Maynial and her staff in the Senate library, especially Isabel Girardot, have made various visits to the Luxembourg Palace a pure pleasure. I should also like to mention my colleagues Jean Garrigues and Jean-Marie Mayeur, whose own work, as well as their interest in mine, has been more important than they know. My thanks, too, to Robert Elgie for going with the idea of this book in the first place, and to my editor for being very patient. The greatest debt of gratitude is to my wife, who has seen my work progress avec un train de sénateur. Festina Lente. xiii

14 Abbreviations AFE CDS CMP CRC CSFE DL MRG MRP PCF PRG PS RD(S)E RPF RPR SFIO UC(DP) UDF UDR UMP UNR URI Assemblée des Français de l Étranger Centre des Démocrates Sociaux Commission Mixte Paritaire Communiste, Républicain et Citoyen Conseil Supérieur des Français de l Étranger Démocratie Libérale Mouvement des Radicaux de Gauche Mouvement Républicain Populaire Parti Communiste Français Parti des Radicaux de Gauche Parti Socialiste Rassemblement Démocratique (et Social) Européen Rassemblement du Peuple Français Rassemblement pour la Républqiue Section Française de l Internationale Ouvrière Union Centriste (des Démocrates de Progrès) Union pour la Démocratie Française Union des Démocrates pour la République Union pour un Mouvement Populaire Union pour la Nouvelle République Union de Républicains et Indépendants xiv