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Prime Minister Of FranceThe Prime Minister of France (Premier ministre de la France) is the functional head of the Cabinet of France. The current Prime Minister of France is Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The official residence of the Prime Minister is the Htel Matignon. Role The Prime Minister is the only authority vested with the power to issue primary regulation through decrees (dcrets); that is, measures of a general character, either issued in support of statutes, either issued autonomously, depending on the area. See a discussion of statute law vs regulation in France. Other ministers may only issue secondary regulations in the form of decisions (arrts). 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'tat). Some decrees may only be taken after advice from the Conseil. 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. Nomination The Prime Minister is named by the President of the Republic. Since 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. When 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 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 (ie when the President is of one party while another party controls the National Assembly) the Prime Minister's importance is enhanced, since the president has little power to be exercised by himself alone. Prior to the constitution of the Fifth Republic in 1959, the Prime Minister was usually the more 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 (Prsident du Conseil des Ministres, short Prsident 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. See also: List of Prime Ministers of France
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