Tick tock. Fifty days after Gabriel Attal’s resignation on July 16, Emmanuel Macron has still not appointed a new Prime Minister, nor does he have a new government. The wait continues and impatience is growing. An appointment could take place this Wednesday, September 4.
The name of the president of the Republicans of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, has been in the news for several days. But the threat of a new government censored by Parliament looms large with the start of the parliamentary term and the debates on the necessary 2025 finance bill.
However, the Elysian master of clocks is not bound by anything in terms of deadlines.
“Neither the Constitution, nor any text, nothing, absolutely nothing, obliges Emmanuel Macron to put pressure on himself,” lecturer in public law and constitutionalist, Anne-Charlène Bezzina, immediately reminds BFMTV.com.
“No legal precedent”
This specialist in public law at the University of Rouen, member of the Study of Legal Systems (ESJ) is categorical: nothing can prevent the President of the Republic from taking all the time he needs to appoint a new executive. “We have no precedent to guide us, this situation is completely unprecedented,” she notes.
In charge of current affairs, the current resigning government of Gabriel Attal can quite easily – if Emmanuel Macron decides to continue to drag out the situation – continue this partial management, by decree or by order. Legally, there is nothing to prevent it from doing so either.
“There is no legal deadline, there is no legal obligation to have a new Prime Minister to do this or that in the coming months,” recalls Anne-Charlène Bezzina.
“Political limit” of the parliamentary return
Certainly, there is nothing in the texts to press the head of state to make a decision, but “politically”, continuing to “let this situation drag on” could have significant consequences, recalls the woman who also wears the hat of a political scientist.
“The broadest political limit would be December 31, which marks the end of a complicated political year, but the more than reasonable one remains the start of the parliamentary session,” says Anne-Charlène Bezzina.
Can we indeed imagine the current resigning government of Gabriel Attal arriving in the cauldron of the National Assembly without risking a collective motion of censure from the opposition?
The censorship and the risk of being overthrown is too great. “I don’t think Emmanuel Macron will want to go that far,” the specialist believes.
The first session of the new Assembly closed on Saturday, July 20, with no specific resumption date. The official start of the new ordinary parliamentary session is set by the Constitution. It must take place on the first working day of October.
The work of the new Assembly will therefore resume on Tuesday, October 1st at the latest – unless there is a decision to open an extraordinary session as requested by La France Insoumise and the National Rally.
This date is also the one set as the final deadline for the submission of the 2025 Finance Bill (PLF). With these dates in mind, political scientist Anne-Charlène Bezzina does not see in the current state “how a resigning minister can defend this text before a hostile parliament”.
After the PLF, the controversial reform of unemployment insurance is also on the agenda for the start of the school year. After its suspension by Gabriel Attal last July, the current rules for unemployment insurance compensation have certainly been extended by decree until October 31, 2024 in order to be able to continue paying benefits. But beyond this date, it is up to the next government (or the resigning one) to decide on the rules as of November 1.
Legal censorship
Without a new executive, the management of current affairs that is dragging on may, however, encounter another obstacle than that of censorship by parliamentarians: that of the administrative judges responsible for validating or not the acts of ministers, suggests Anne-Charlène Bezzina.
“We could thus have cancellations from the Council of State, considering that certain decisions go beyond the legal framework of current affairs,” the constitutionalist concluded to BFMTV.com.
Very rare, these disputes have never taken place under the 5th Republic in a similar context. Under the 4th Republic, only one cancellation of a ministerial decision taken in current affairs was made by the Council of State, recalls the professor of public law. Not enough, however, to scare the head of state and force him to speed up his decision-making.
- BFMTV.com
