Republican Party Attempts Impeachment of French President

Republican members of France’s National Assembly put forth a motion on November 10 to impeach French President François Hollande. Claude Bartolone, the President of the Assembly, gave President Hollande and Prime Minister Valls copies of the proposition.

As of November 10, 79 members had signed the proposition and 152 members supported it, out of 577 total members. These members are attempting to invoke Article 68 of the French constitution, which states that a president can be removed from office if he committed a grievous breach of duties. They claim that “this motion for resolution, on the initiative of Pierre Lellouche, is based on the serious breaches of the duties of the office of president, in particular the violation of defense secrecy.” Among the signatories are those of previous right-wing Prime Minister François Fillon and right-wing Sarkozy supporter Eric Ciotti. However, right-wing candidate Bruno Le Maire has refused to sign, as he believes it is only the people’s right to impeach the president.

The publication of the book A President Should Not Say That, written by renowned French journalists Géard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme of Le Monde, has been the driving force for the impeachment proceedings. The book, published in October, exposes dozens of private conversations between the president and the two journalists, reveals that President Hollande ordered multiple assassinations due to security reasons, and illuminates details of the failed attack in Syria in 2013. The Republican members claim that the state secrets divulged by the president put the country in danger.

President Hollande’s approval ratings dropped to a historic low of 4 percent following its publication. 86 percent of citizens have stated that they do not want him to run for a second term as president. Pierre Lellouche declared, "It expresses our deep conviction that a president must not, cannot and simply does not have the right to say everything in the light of his responsibilities as head of state and leader of the armed forces."

However, François Fillon acknowledged that the impeachment does not have any chance of succeeding, as a two-thirds majority in both the National Assembly and Senate is necessary for it to pass. Currently, Hollande’s party controls 51 percent of the Assembly and 37 percent of the Senate; therefore, it appears unlikely that the impeachment proposition will succeed. Nevertheless, this impeachment attempt casts doubts on the elections next year, and it remains to be seen how President Hollande will recover.