The Prime Minister of France (Premier ministre de la France) is the functional head of the Cabinet of France. The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, which was introduced on October 5, 1958. ... Symbol of the French government The government of France is a semi-presidential system based on the French Constitution of the fifth Republic, in which the nation declares itself to be an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic. The constitution provides for a separation of powers and proclaims Frances... Symbol of the French government The President of the French Republic (French: ) colloquially referred to as President of France, is Frances elected Head of State. ... Jacques René Chirac (born November 29, 1932) has served as the Gaullist President of France since he was first elected in 1995. ... // Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (20 December 1848 - 2 December 1852) Adolphe Thiers (17 February 1871 - 24 May 1873) (Head of Executive Power to 31 August 1871) Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon (24 May 1873 - 30 January 1879) Jules Armand Stanislas Dufaure (30 January 1879) (acting) Jules Grevy (30 January 1879 - 2... Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (born 14 November 1953 in Rabat, French Morocco) simply known as Dominique de Villepin ( —  , is a French diplomat and politician. ... This page is a list of French prime ministers. ... The Parlement of France is bicameral, and consists of the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) and the Senate (Sénat). ... The Palais Bourbon, front The French National Assembly (French: ) is one of the two houses of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. ... The Senate (in French : le Sénat) is the upper house of the Parliament of France. ... The French Congress (French: ) is the name given to the body created when both houses of the present-day French Parliament – the French National Assembly and the French Senate – reunite at the Château of Versailles to vote on revisions to the French constitution. ... A republican guard giving directions to visitors at the front entrance of the Constitutional Council The Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958. ... The Court of Cassation (Cour de cassation in French) is the main court of last resort in France. ... Political parties in France lists political parties in France. ... Charles de Gaulle, in his generals uniform Gaullism (from French Gaullisme) is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Charles de Gaulle. ... France is a representative democracy. ... The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates (Jacques Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen) on 5 May 2002. ... The official campaign: the posters for the 12 candidates The 2007 French presidential election represents generational change and is being held to elect the successor of incumbent Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term. ... These are the results of the French legislative election of 2002 Category: ... The French legislative election will take place on 10 June and 17 June 2007 to elect the 13th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a few weeks after the French presidential election run-off on 6 May. ... In France, the country is often called the patrie des droits de lHomme (human rights homeland), mostly ironically by persons who complain about a perceived violation of theses rights. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Departments (French: départements) are administrative units of France and many former French colonies, roughly analogous to English counties. ... The European Union or EU is a supranational and international organization of 27 member states. ... A charter member of the United Nations, France holds one of the permanent seats in the Security Council and is a member of most of its specialized and related agencies. ... The honour entrance to the Ministry building on the Quai dOrsay The Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the Government of France, is the cabinet member responsible for the Republics network of relationships with foreign nations. ... This is a list of major political scandals in France: 1816 shipwreck of and search for French frigate Medusa off the west coast of Africa Dreyfus Affair, 1894 treason conviction of Alfred Dreyfus - exposed by writer Emile Zola on January 13, 1898 The Ben Barka affair, 1965 disappearance of the... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... French government ministers are members of the Prime Ministers cabinet, although in French the term cabinet is rarely used to describe the gouvernement, even in translation (as it is used in French to mean a ministers private office, composed of politically-appointed aides). ...

The current Prime Minister of France is Dominique de Villepin. Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (born 14 November 1953 in Rabat, French Morocco) simply known as Dominique de Villepin ( —  , is a French diplomat and politician. ...

Decrees and decisions of the Prime Minister, as almost all executive decisions, are subject to the oversight of the administrative court system (see Conseil d'État). Some decrees may only be taken after advice from the Conseil. In France, the Conseil dÉtat (English: Council of State and sometimes Counsel of State) is an organ of the French national government. ...

Understandably, each minister tends to defend the programs of his or her ministry, yet budgetary choices must be made. The Prime Minister is normally the final arbiter of such choices, though, in times when the President is of the same political stance, the President's choice may be preponderant.

Because the Prime Minister is ultimately responsible for governmental policy, he is generally blamed for the government's failings. As a consequence, the popularity of a prime minister may start high, then plummet, depending on circumstances. While some consider the position of Prime Minister as establishing political stature for a presidential bid, it is also arguably a very dangerous position because of the possibilities of unpopularity.

Nomination

The Prime Minister is named by the President of the Republic. Because the National Assembly can, by a vote of censure, force the resignation of the government, the choice of prime minister must reflect the majority in the Assembly. Where the President and the majority of the Assembly have opposite political leanings, this yields a situation known as cohabitation, where the executive is headed by a president and a prime minister of different opinion. The President of France, known officially as the President of the Republic (Président de la République in French), is Frances elected Head of State. ... The Palais Bourbon, front The French National Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale) is one of the two houses of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. ... Censure is a process by which a formal reprimand is issued to an individual by an authoritative body. ... Cohabitation in government occurs in semi-presidential systems, such as Frances system, when the President and the Prime Minister come from different political parties. ...

The Prime Minister proposes the list of other ministers to the President.

Relationship with the President

In the Fifth Republic the chief political figure in France is the President of the Republic with the Prime Minister having secondary importance. However when there is cohabitation (i.e., when the President is of one party while another party controls the National Assembly) the Prime Minister's importance is enhanced because the president has little power to be exercised by himself alone. The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, which was introduced on October 5, 1958. ...

When the President and the Prime Minister are of the same party, the Prime Minister often plays the role of a "fuse": that is, citizens lay the blame of the failures of governmental policy on him or her, and when the Prime Minister is unpopular, he or she resigns in order to protect the President. This was demonstrated, for instance, by Jean-Pierre Raffarin's resignation on May 31, 2005, following from the negative answer to the referendum on the proposed European Constitution. Jean-Pierre Raffarin Jean-Pierre Raffarin   listen? (born August 3, 1948) is a French conservative politician. ... On 29 May 2005 a referendum was held in France to decide whether the country should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union. ...

Prior to the constitution of the Fifth Republic in 1959, the Prime Minister was usually the most important political figure. However, at that time there was no official position entitled "Prime Minister" in the French government. Rather, one of the government ministers held the semi-official title of President of the Council of Ministers (Président du Conseil des Ministres, short Président du Conseil), and was unofficially known as the prime minister (premier ministre). Even this was something of a misnomer, as it was the President of France who actually presided over the Council of Ministers. The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, which was introduced on October 5, 1958. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• List of Prime Ministers of France
• Hôtel Matignon