He decides on April 14 on pension reform: who is on the Constitutional Council?

The Constitutional Council will make its decision on the controversial pension reform on Friday, April 14. The Elders will deliver two opinions: one on the constitutionality of the bill passed in Parliament after the appeal to 49.3, and the other on the admissibility of a request for a joint initiative referendum (RIP) initiated by the left. They may decide to check all text or censor all or part of the text. Who will be responsible for making these decisions? Who is on the Constitutional Council?

The institution consists of nine members, appointed for nine years and renewed by a third every three years. They are appointed on the proposal of the Presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate, as well as the President of the Republic, who also appoints the President of the Constitutional Council. From July 2008, names submitted by the head of state must be approved by the Constitutional Law Commission of each assembly. Former presidents of the republic are also ex officio members of the Constitutional Council, but Nicolas Sarkozy decided not to sit on it in 2013, and François Hollande never sat there.

The Chairman of the Constitutional Council is one of its oldest members. This Laurent Fabiusappointed in February 2016 by François Hollande. A socialist MP for over 20 years, former prime minister François Mitterrand, he held numerous ministerial portfolios during the first socialist presidency before being appointed President of the National Assembly between 1997 and 2000. Laurent Fabius returns to executive power in the cohabitation government. Lionel Jospin, then François Hollande, before he was appointed President of the Constitutional Council.

In January 2023, he warned of the risk “budget rider” which threatens all the provisions of the text, which will be “outside the financial field”, the latter was passed through a budget bill, which should have implications for the budget of the current or next year.

Among other political members, we find two former ministers of Emmanuel Macron: Jacques Mezard AND Jacqueline Gouraud, both appointed in 2019 and 2022 by the President. The first is a former senator from Kanthal, former Minister of Agriculture and Food and Minister of Territorial Unity, who is more of a leftist because he is a former member of the Radical Left Party and the Radical Movement. The second was Minister of the Interior Minister Gérard Colombe and Minister of Territorial Unity and Relations with Local Authorities. Senator of Loire-et-Cher from 2001 to 2017, Vice President of the Senate, she is a member of MoDem, of which she was Vice President. His appointment was controversial due to his lack of legal training.

Two other members of the Constitutional Council are former politicians who are more likely to be classified as right-wing. This François Pilet, appointed in February 2019 by President of the Senate Gérard Larcher (LR). He was a senator for Cher from 2007 to 2019, joined the Les Républicains group and supported François Fillon in the Republican primaries in 2016. Former prime minister Alain Juppe is also a member of the Constitutional Council. Head of government from 1995 to 1997 under Jacques Chirac, he was his deputy mayor of Paris before taking over the city of Bordeaux himself for 12 years. He leaves his mandate when Richard Ferrand appoints him among the wise men, where he replaces another prime minister, Lionel Jospin. He is the first member of the Constitutional Council to be convicted by justice for the illegal receipt of income in the business of fictitious positions of the city hall of Paris.

François Seners, appointed in February 2022 by Gerard Larcher, of whom he was chief of staff, is also close to the right. A graduate of Science Po Strasbourg and a former student of the ENA, he spent his career in numerous cabinets, with prefects and later in the ministries of the governments of Michel Rocard, Alain Juppe and François Fillon.

Also named Gerard Larcher, Michael Pino lawyer, graduated from HEC and ENA. He is a former government adviser, head of an insurance company, chairman of the Sanctions Commission of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) and the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions.

Appointed in February 2016 by the President of the PS National Assembly, Claude Bartolone. Corine Luciens was its general secretary at the Palais Bourbon from 2010 to 2016. From 2010 to 2016, she was Secretary General of the Assembly and Presidency, the highest position in the administration of the National Assembly. A law graduate of Sciences Po Paris, she spent most of her career at the Palais Bourbon.

Finally, Véronique Malbec was appointed in February 2022 by Richard Ferrand, President of the National Assembly. Magistrate who heads the National Judicial School of the Attorney Generals of Rennes and Versailles, she is the first woman to head the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Justice in 2018. She was director of the cabinet of Eric Dupont. – Moretti in 2020, following his entry into government as Keeper of the Seals.