Since the French government lost its absolute majority in parliament, it's becoming harder to get legislation passed. However France has a handy tool called article 49.3 – and it appears increasingly likely the Prime Minister will be using it. RFI looks at how this “nuclear legislative weapon” actually works and whether it's really the threat to democracy that detractors are claiming.
Article 49.3 of the French constitution, commonly known as "Le 49.3", is a mechanism that allows the executive to force laws through parliament without a vote.
Introduced in 1958 with the Fifth Republic, it was designed to overcome the shortcomings of the previous republic – notably political deadlock due to rapid changes of government.
Paragraph 3 of Article 49 allows "the prime minister, after deliberation by the council of ministers, to engage the government's responsibility before the National Assembly" by bypassing a vote on bills relating to state and social security budgets.
The 49.3 also provides for recourse by parliament. MPs can block the bill's adoption by "tabling a vote of no confidence – signed by at least 10 percent of members (58 MPs) and filed within 24 hours".
How does it work?
If the motion of no confidence gets a majority (289 MPs), the bill is rejected and the government must step down.
If the motion is rejected, the bill is passed and heads over to the Senate. The usual to-ing and frowing between upper and lower house continues, and the government can activate 49.3 again if needed.
Governments have made lavish use of the 49.3 in the past, but since 2008 it can be activated for only one bill per parliamentary session (per year), outside of the state and social security budgets for which there are no limitations.
Why is it in the news?
During parliamentary elections in June this year, President Macron’s Renaissance party (formerly LREM) lost its absolute majority in parliament, making it harder to get legislation passed than before.
Prime Minister Elisabth Borne is expected to use Article 49.3 for the budget bill (PLF), which the National Assembly began debating this week. Opposition parties have already announced they will not vote in favour.
“The question is not to know if we will use the 49.3 on the PLF but when, since it is out of the question for France not to have a budget,” a leading member of Renaissance told FranceInfo.
The 49.3 mechanism will also most probably be used for the pension reform bill, which includes raising the legal age of retirement from 62 to 65 years of age.
The leftist Nupes alliance and far-right National Rally are set to vote against, although the right-wing Republicans (LR) could ultimately rally round the government and get the bill passed.
Is it unusual to trigger 49.3?
Far from it. Article 49.3 has been used 87 times since 1958, according to official government figures. Mostly by the Left.
Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls used it six times in 2015 and 2016 to push through the El Khomri labour law reform and the "Macron law" on finance. Both encountered opposition from within the Socialist Party itself.
Jacques Chirac, Raymond Barre and Edith Cresson all turned to article 49.3 eight times during their terms, while Georges Pompidou used it six times.
The record holder is the late Michel Rocard – Socialist prime minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991. With only a relative majority in parliament, he relied on it 28 times for 13 pieces of legislation.
"At the time it didn't stir up public opinion or the media," said Anne Levade, a professor in constitutional law.
"But to demonstrate how solid their majority was, some prime ministers later said, 'I would never use 49.3 because I don't need it'."
So far, Macron’s government has used the 49.3 only once – in February 2020 – to push through the first part of the pension reform bill.
The government had a comfortable majority, but triggered the mechanism to cut short parliamentary debate on the bill after opposition MPs tabled 41,000 amendments to obstruct its passage through parliament.
The bill became law in 2020, but was held back because of the Covid pandemic.
Why is 49.3 politically risky?
French media often refers to article 49.3 as a “nuclear legislative weapon” – both for what it can achieve and what it can entail.
Governments can push through sometimes-unpopular legislation, but they also risk being overthrown.
Whilst motions of no confidence had little chance of getting voted during Macron's first term, the government is now in a far weaker position.
Under the Fifth Republic, there's been only one successful motion of no confidence – which led to the resignation of Georges Pompidou's government – but it was not the result of the 49.3.
Denial of democracy?
While 49.3 is legal and has never brought down a government, its use has become synonymous with stifling democratic debate.
The opposition, of whatever political hue, tends to criticise it as undemocratic since it deprives elected representatives of their say on key issues.
In 2006, while still an opposition MP, Socialist François Hollande called article 49.3 “a brutality” a “denial of democracy” and “a way of slowing down or stopping parliamentary debate".
Once president, however, he let his prime minister Manuel Valls use it. He has since said that "if a government no longer has this weapon, it means it can no longer carry out the policy it has chosen".
Jean-Louis Debré, president of the Constitutional Council between 2007 and 2016, has defended it as "an instrument that allows stability in government in the face of party divisions".
But Robert Badinter, another former head of the Constitutional Council and former justice minister, has expressed reservations.
"The 49.3 is indispensable for finance and budgetary matters. For the rest it has to disappear," he said in 2019. "You don't change a law that wasn't voted in parliament."
