The French National Cabinet

                                             DEAR DELEGATES,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Yale Model Government Europe and to the French Cabinet. This guide will provide you with a description of our committee’s structure, some context on France’s political situation, and more in-depth background on the topics we will be debating in November. But before getting to the information that will be foundational to your debate experience, I would like to introduce myself.

Originally from Washington, DC, I am a sophomore at Yale College double majoring in History and French. I have been involved with Model UN programs for over 8 years now, both in an administrative and competitive capacity, and have learned a lot from both perspectives. Having served as the Assistant Secretary-General for Domestic Delegations for YMUN XLIII, I am so excited to be a part of my first international secretariat with YMGE. On campus I am also an editor of the Yale Daily News, and this summer I conducted research on digital policy reform in the European Union at the Lisbon Council in Brussels.

When I have some free time, I am a huge fan of classic NBC sitcoms like The Office and 30 Rock, but my deep interest in politics also translates into a nightly habit of watching NBC News and late night binges of House of Cards. And while I do a lot more in my free time than just watch television, I will look favorably upon those who share my taste in Netflix originals.

I am very excited to meet all of you in just a few months! YMGE promises to be an exceptional experience for each and every one of you, and I look forward to facilitating committee sessions that are full of thoughtful and respectful debate. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail at alexander.rivkin@yale.edu.

Sincerely,

Alexander Rivkin

The French Cabinet (Conseil des Ministres), officially composed of the senior ministers of state, is the most powerful executive organ in the French government. While the more general Government of France (Gouvernement de la République Française) consists of both senior and junior ministers, the French Cabinet wields a greater level of executive authority, with the potential to directly enact widespread change within France’s unitary semi-presidential system of government. According to Article 9 of France’s constitution, the French cabinet is presided over by the President of the Republic, a role whose regulatory powers will be exercised by the Dais during our conference’s simulation.

Given the volatility of the French government’s structure over the last century, the powers and privileges of the French Cabinet are fairly recent in their definition. Currently experimenting with its fifth iteration of democratic governance, France’s government is referred to as the Fifth Republic, an experiment in democracy informed by the failures of its predecessor regime. The French Fourth Republic (1944-1958) formed in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War and earned routine criticism for its weak executive branch and inability to produce a stable and lasting governing coalition within its legislature. These weaknesses, which had plagued the war-torn country’s ability to rebuild and stabilize post Nazi occupation, came to a head during the Algiers Crisis of 1958, in which hard-right partisans in Algeria, then a province of France, attempted a coup d’état against the centrist government in Paris. While the coup ended in failure, the damage done to the credibility of the Fourth Republic was irreversible.

Facing mass protests and a decisively ineffective executive branch, the parliament of the fourth republic voted to dissolve itself and to establish a new constitutional convention, clearing the way for General Charles de Gaulle, a national hero of the Second World War, to form a new government. Advocating for a strong-presidential system in which the president appointed the prime minister, Charles de Gaulle successfully shaped the constitution of the fifth republic and was inaugurated as its first president in October of 1958.

According to Article 8 of the constitution of the Fifth Republic, the President of France appoints the Prime Minister, who in turn names the senior and junior ministers of the government. In order to assert a sense of public accountability within the executive, the constitution of the fifth republic subjects the French cabinet to several democratic checks. The national parliament (Assemblée Nationale) may question senior ministers in person or in writing at any time and expect a thorough, truthful, and prompt response, and, if sufficiently dissatisfied with the performance of the government, may pass a motion of censure demanding its dissolution. The censure has only been invoked once in the history of the Fifth Republic and is regarded as a fairly drastic measure. Due to provisions regarding accountability to parliament, the French Cabinet nearly always reflects the political breakdown of the National Assembly’s governing coalition regardless of the President’s political affiliation, which can lead to political polarization within the executive.

Even with the legal restrictions placed on them, senior ministers in the French Cabinet are generally accorded a high level of autonomy. They are permitted to propose and initiate legislation in the National Assembly, have general authority over their executive domains, and may request that the prime minister issue an autonomous regulation in order to influence national policy without going through the parliament. Therefore, as members of the French Cabinet, you are all entitled to direct the functioning of your respective ministries except where it conflicts with existing French law, propose legislation to parliament, as well as request the circumvention of parliamentary authority for the purposes of executive action by filing for an autonomous regulation. However, in taking such forceful action, you risk potentially overstepping your competence and being censured by the National Assembly.

Introduction

The concept of laïcité, often translated into english as secularism, is a fundamentally french political tradition heavily influenced by the history of the republic. Defined in french by the Larousse dictionary as “the conception and organization of a society founded on the division between church and state,” laïcité and its contemporary interpretation have been strongly influenced by France’s historical experiences with state religion, immigration, and race relations.

The French Revolution and 19th Century

Up until the late 18th century, the French government and nation state were devoutly Catholic entities. As one of the most powerful Catholic lineages in Europe along with the Habsburgs, the Bourbon kings of France saw it in their political interest to assert the dominance of the Catholic religion and remain loyal patrons of the Vatican. This commitment to Catholicism led to a particularly chaotic manifestation of the Protestant Reformation in France, and the French Wars of Religion in the 16th century heavily damaged the country’s demographic and political stability. Although the conflict was resolved by the religious tolerance provisions of the Edict of Nantes in 1598, the 16th century was far from the end of religious strife in France, with the edict of 1598 being reversed less than a hundred years later by King Louis XIV’s Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685. As a result, thousands of France’s remaining protestants (Huguenots) fled to neighboring Prussia and Britain, damaging the French economy and contributing to the unpopular perception of the monarchy’s relationship with the Church.

The chaotic history of religion in France, in concert with the generous tax exemptions given to the clergy by the government in the 18th century, were major factors contributing to the French revolution of 1789. Among the core principles of the revolution was the foundation of a secular state, and the Declaration on the Rights of Man and of the Citizen codified this principle in its statement that “no one may be disturbed on account of his opinions, even religious ones, as long as the manifestation of such opinions does not interfere with the established Law and Order.” As more radical elements of the revolution came into power, attitude towards religion shifted from tolerant to hostile, and the powerful Church was stripped of its power and influence as the radical government of the 1790s set about removing all traces of Catholicism from french political, academic, and cultural life. Although the government and the Church were reconciled in Napoleon’s concordat of 1801, the Church had lost significant influence and resources, and the concept of laïcité had taken hold in France. As much of France’s 19th century is characterized by power shifts between monarchist and republican factions, no dominant policy regarding religion took hold at the political level in the country during this period. However, due to the relative instability of France’s political situation and the cultural effects of the industrial revolution, the Catholic church was unable to restore its authority and gradually faded further into the background of 19th century French life.

Questions to Consider: What role should the historic importance of Catholicism in France play in modern society? Is it fair to say that Catholic traditions form an integral part of French culture, and should that even be a consideration in a secular state?

Secularism since 1905

The introduction of the 1905 French law on the separation of church and state is generally regarded as the beginning of laïcité in its modern, legally codified form. The law established official state secularism in France and was based on three core elements: the neutrality of the state, the freedom of religious exercise, and the strict regulation of public funds allocated towards organized religions and cults. Although the 1905 law began the application of state secularism at a broad level, the use of the word laïcité had been widespread since the passage of the Jules Ferry laws of 1881-82, which established free, mandatory, and secular (laïc) education throughout the republic. Nearly two centuries of de facto or de jure state secularism and a weakened catholic church have contributed to strongly atheistic or agnostic views among the European-French population. According to the 2009 Gallup Coexist Index, less than 1/4th of French citizens identify strongly with their religion. So while the strict interpretation of laïcité has sidelined religious values, this does not pose a problem to the majority of French citizens of European origin, who see secularism as a fundamental part of their republican identity.

That being said, it has been pointed out that the structure of French secular law favors religions that were well established in the country before 1905, including Catholicism and Judaism as well as various Protestant sects. For example, the banning of religious symbols in schools was instituted at a time when the vast majority of french people subscribed to a religion that did not, except for in its most radical forms, require the wearing of a religious article of clothing. Therefore while Christians and Jews in France simply need to hide their cross necklace or star of david, Muslim women in France are asked to remove their veils, a much more invasive requirement.

There are also loopholes in French secular law that have contributed to the perception that the government uses laïcité to grant certain religious groups in France special privileges. Since 1959, the state has paid the salaries of private school teachers, and due to the popularity of public education in France, most private schools are Jewish or Catholic schools and still receive funding from the state. According to the Briand-Ceretti agreement of 1926, which is still in force today, the French government retains a special relationship with the Vatican and coordinates with the Papal authorities in the appointment of bishops within French borders. In addition, due to the historic importance of Catholicism in French culture, the public calendar and most state holidays are organized around christian religious festivals.

Question to Consider: Is France’s special relationship with Judaism and Catholicism necessarily inappropriate for a secular state? Or is it just a logical compromise?

Key Points:

France has a centuries old and tumultuous relationship with Catholicism that has had a significant impact on French culture and society.

Laïcité, or French state secularism, has its origins in the French Revolution of 1789, but was reinforced by the Jules Ferry laws of 1881-82 and the French secular law of 1905.

Two centuries of varying degrees of state secularism have drastically increased the popularity of irreligion in France, where less than a quarter of residents say that religion plays an important role in their life.

Although laïcité is fairly strict in its application, exceptions have been made for religions with roots in France before the 20th century, including Judaism and Catholicism.

Introduction

Laïcité and secularism are major points of contention in France today. Much of the discourse surrounding the most contentious elements of domestic policy – immigration, integration, education, etc. – find their roots in the varying interpretations of laïcité that can be found across the modern French political spectrum. As mentioned earlier in the topic history section, modern issues around laïcité focus on how the policy can adapt to regulate the presence of new religions in France, particularly Islam.

Islam in France Today

Muslims are the second largest religious group in France, after practicing Catholics. Comprising an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the national population, France’s Muslim population is the largest in Western Europe. Over the past five years, as violent extremism in the Middle East has re-entered the fore in the form of the Islamic State (referred to as Daesh in France), tensions between largely irreligious French communities of European origin and more insular and conservative Muslim French communities of North African origin have been growing, raising allegations that the government has created the problem by failing to properly integrate French muslims over the last half century.

Islam has a history in metropolitan France stretching back to the medieval ages, but the Muslim community in France as it is known today formed mostly as a result of immigration from northern Africa and former French colonial possessions over the last 50 years. For as long as there have been Muslims in France, there has been discrimination against Muslims in France. According to a 2015 survey by Pew Political Report, only 26% of French respondents agreed that Islam was compatible with French society. This negative perception of Islam plays out in the form of tangible discrimination against Muslims in the métropole; a 2010 study found that French Muslims are over twice as likely to be rejected from a job than their non-Muslim counterparts. French Muslims are also locationally isolated, oftentimes crowded into immigrant communities on the outskirts of major cities known as banlieues. The high crime in these areas, often resulting from a lack of government services and adequate policing, further stigmatizes France’s Muslim community and reinforces the common perception that they are unable or unwilling to integrate.

Although France’s Muslim community is largely moderate, certain elements of the community have been radicalized, with over 1200 French Muslims having traveled to Syria in the past five years to fight for Daesh. While this number constitutes less than 0.016% of France’s Muslims, these statistics in concert with an increasingly xenophobic political climate have only furthered tensions in metropolitan France. There is now general consensus in both French government and society that the need for a rapprochement between French Muslims and French society at large has never been greater.

Questions to Consider: To what extent is the isolation of Muslim communities a result of government policy? How responsible is the government for the geographical and social integration of its minority citizens?

Religious Extremism and Terrorism in France

Hostile attitudes towards Islam have also been exacerbated by a recent spate of Islamic extremist attacks on France. The Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015, inspired by the publication of a cartoon seen as offensive by many Muslims, was widely perceived in France as an attack on secular French values such as freedom of speech. In the two weeks following the shooting, it was reported that 26 mosques in France had suffered from retaliatory attacks.

Less than one year later, the November 2015 attacks in Paris were the deadliest in French history, killing over 130 people and injuring more than 300 others. Despite its denouncement by Muslim leaders worldwide as well as the Muslim community in France, the attack’s association with Islam increased religious and social tensions in France. The Nice Attack of July 2016, which claimed over 80 lives, further enflamed these tensions, and the April 2017 shooting of two police officers in Paris by a Muslim extremist had a similar effect.

The terrorist attacks in France have contributed to a rightward-swing in immigration politics and a generally less tolerant atmosphere for France’s Muslim community. The relative successes of far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and her National Front party illustrate this political and social shift. Although Le Pen, who campaigned on what was perceived as an outright islamophobic platform, lost the presidential election to centrist Emmanuel Macron, her garnering of over one third of the vote was unprecedented in French politics. Much of Le Pen’s campaign focused on tensions between France’s secular law and its Muslim community, which she touted as proof of Islam’s incompatibility with French society. In contrast to many liberal elements in France, she has found the government's interpretation of secularism to be too accommodating of Muslims, citing in particular the accommodation of Muslim students in public schools as an example. Her relative success in the election demonstrates that her message resonated with a historically large portion of the French electorate and only increases the urgency of reconciling France with its Muslim citizens.

Questions to Consider: Is the rise of Marine Le Pen and the far-right Front National directly attributable to the failure to integrate French Muslims? How much of this failure can be attributed to the failure to properly enforce or adjust policies regarding laïcité?

Secularism and Contemporary Politics

Although far-right parties in France place the blame for today’s social malaise on Islam, the French government’s interpretation of laïcité has been seen as a factor in the isolation and marginalization of the country’s Muslim communities. However, even as France grapples with a sense of economic and cultural decline, as well as the increasingly menacing prospect of homegrown jihadism, the French government has failed to rethink its interpretation of laïcité, often at the expense of constructive reform.

Recently elected President Emmanuel Macron has brought with him a uniquely candid and progressive attitude towards the application of laïcité to french muslims. In July of 2016, at a meeting of his political movement En Marche, Macron was quoted as saying “Personally, I do not believe we should be inventing new texts, new laws, new standards, in order to hunt down veils at universities and go after people who wear religious symbols during field trips.” Such a conciliatory view represents a potential reinterpretation of laïcité under his fledgling administration. However, President Macron has demonstrated that he is unwilling to compromise in some areas, stating in an interview during the French presidential campaign that “when one enters the public realm, the laws of the Republic must prevail over religious law.”

The following case studies illustrate the complexity and sensitivity of the subject.

Case Study One: The public use of the veil and the burqini

One of the most widely-known cases of tension between French secular law and the public practice of Islam has been the regulations regarding religious clothing for Muslim women. With over 10% of France’s population self-identifying as practicing Muslim, the discourse on how to appropriately reconcile public conduct with faith has often been reduced to this single issue.

According to several popular interpretations of the Quran, Muslim women are required to hide their bodies and/or faces from all men with the exception of immediate family in order to preserve their modesty. The hijab, literally meaning partition or curtain, is a word that refers to any head, face, or body covering used to comply with this religious requirement. Some Muslim women choose not to cover themselves in this way, and some cover themselves entirely, with many falling on a spectrum somewhere between the two extremes.

Given rising security concerns and increasing anxiety regarding Islamic extremism, the French government issued a ban on face coverings in public in 2010. Although the ban applied to a wide variety of coverings, its political context and comments made by supporting politicians indicated that it was targeted directly at the face coverings used by some Muslim women. While supporters of the bill claimed that it promoted laïcité and gender equality, opponents alleged that it violated freedom of expression and freedom of religion, and sued the French government. In S.A.S v. France, the European Court on Human Rights ruled in favor of the french government, finding that the defendants had not violated freedom of religion or the right to privacy. Instead, the court found that the French government’s claim that the law served to promote societal cohesion and “a certain idea of living together.” The court put some weight on the fact that the ban applied to non-religious garb as well, and ruled in favor of France in a 15-2 decision. Thus it is illegal to this day, punishable by hefty fines, to wear an outfit that significantly obscures or covers the face while in public with narrow exceptions. Proponents of the veil ban continue to see it as a representation of French secular law, although this interpretation is widely challenged.

The issue of Muslim religious clothing was re litigated in August 2016 when several cities on France’s southern coast banned the Burqini, a type of swimwear meant to accommodate the modesty requirements for women laid out in the Quran. Although it is a religious piece of clothing, the Burqini does not necessarily cover the face and is therefore not in direct violation of the national ban on veils. Proponents of the ban cited laïcité as their primary motivating factor, declaring that the burqini violated the spirit of a religiously neutral public arena that was considered to be essential to state secularism in France. Public opinion polls in France showed heavy backing for the ban, with nearly two thirds of French people in support. Even then Prime Minister Manuel Valls supported the ban, calling burkinis “the expression of a political project, a counter-society, based notably on the enslavement of women.”

However, despite the widespread public support, the ban was ruled illegal by the French Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative court, which found the ban to have “seriously and clearly illegally breached fundamental freedoms.” The Conseil thus rejected any arguments that the burkini ban was intended as a measure of gender equality and ruled that the considerations regarding state secularism did not supercede an individual’s choice to dress themselves as they pleased. The ban of the veil, however, has not faced any serious legal challenges since the decision of the European court in 2014.

Questions to Consider: Do you agree with the European Court’s assessment that the 2010 ban did not unfairly target Muslims? Irrespective of your opinion on the last question, do you believe such a ban violates the spirit of religious neutrality central to laïcité?

Key Points:

Many women in France’s growing Muslim community have chosen to express their faith by wearing religiously-mandated clothing.

In 2010, amid rising concerns about Islamic extremism, the French government banned all face coverings in public places, a law that was upheld by the European Court on Human Rights in 2014.

There is still widespread sentiment that the veil ban targeted Muslim communities in what would appear to a breach of the religious neutrality of the state.

In 2016 several towns attempted to ban the burkini, but these local ordinances were subsequently nullified by the Conseil d’État, despite overwhelming popular support.

Case Study Two: The accommodation of Islam in public schools

On the heels of a historically powerful showing by Marine Le Pen’s National Front, the topic of the integration of Islam into schools and educational policy has been raised by French conservatives and liberals alike over the past months and years. The discussion here is centered on what qualifies as a reasonable accommodation of a religious practice, and how far french public institutions are expected to go to accommodate the religious beliefs of the Muslim minority.

For nearly thirty years from 1975 to 2015, France’s schools had adopted a strategy of serving alternative meals for students of minority religions when some foods, particularly pork, were on the school menu. The compromise had not been challenged, legislatively or legally, up until that point, aside from some minor objections raised by the far-right. However, in 2015, the centre-right mayor of the town of Chalon-sur-Saone suddenly decided to end the practice, asserting that “leaving religion at the door” of public institutions was a core element of laïcité. National politician and former President Nicolas Sarkozy lauded the move as an “instrumentalization of secularism,” and encouraged other municipalities to follow Chalon’s example. His rationale: if the state should be neutral then it cannot make exceptions for certain religious students in its schools; in addition, if a muslim parent wants their child to have a religious diet at school, they should send them to a private religious institution.

Others in France treated the situation in Chalon as an unnecessary provocation where people had made an issue out of nothing and out principle over pragmatism. As very few people had complained about the minor religious accommodations being made for students who ate kosher or halal food, it seemed ridiculous that a single mayor of a small town would chose to make a national issue over this for what seemed like no reason at all.

The debate over halal food, however, only forms one part of the greater issue at hand: to what extent is the French state obliged to accommodate its muslim students? The school calendar in France is largely based around Christian holidays, but as these are generally seen as core elements of french culture, there has been no allegation that the scholastic calendar constitutes a breach of state secularism. However, when in 2016 the regional government of Ile-de-France announced that it would postpone end of the year examinations because they conflicted with the Islamic holiday of Eid al-fitr, the day marking the end of the holy period of Ramadan. The policy sparked outrage across France, where end of the year examinations (the baccalaureate or bac) is seen as an integral part of a civic, secular education. Members of parliament, third party observers, and private citizens decried the act as an affront to the Republic. The regional government of Ile-de-France did not reconsider the policy.

The application of secularism to school policy is particularly sensitive in France because it touches on what values the government will impart on following generations. Some French people see the introduction of accommodations for Muslim students in public schools as quite literally the beginning of the end of French culture. Proponents of the reforms see them as pragmatic and representative of the responsibility of a state to ensure the equal treatment of all of its citizens.

Questions to Consider: To what extent should a secular state accommodate the religious needs of the students in its public education system? Can the French education system, with its basis in the Christian calendar, even be considered secular? How can laïcité and freedom of religion coexist in the school environment?

Key Points:

For nearly 30 years, public schools in France served alternate meals to those Jewish and Muslim students who had religious dietary restrictions.

In 2015, the mayor of Chalon-sur-Saone unilaterally ended this program with impunity, earning praise and condemnation from across the French political spectrum.

In 2016, the regional government of Ile-de-France accommodated Muslim students by allowing them to delay their final examinations due to scheduling conflicts with the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The application of laïcité in schools remains among the most contentious topics in domestic French politics.

Suggestions for Further Research

Secularism and the debate over laïcité is a well known political issue in France. To prepare yourself for our committee, I advise that you inform yourself on the wide range of perspectives in the french political system, which, as a result of the 2017 president elections, contains a stunning diversity of parties. It is crucially important that you familiarize yourself with the positions of the National Front, the far-right political party run by Marine Le Pen that has been a mainstay of French politics for decades and considers itself a proponent of uncompromising state secularism. It is equally important that you understand the perspective of France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, who leads a new but powerful force in the french political system: La République en Marche (The Republic on the Move/The Republic at Work). While these two parties represent two of the most popular worldviews in France today, their views on secularism in particular illustrate the divided opinion of the French public.

The application of laïcité in France and the secularism of the state is not just a national issue, and it is crucial that you have a basic understanding of the European Charter on Human Rights so that you understand the judicial limits that you face. As is clear from the case studies, continental institutions have, at times, intervened in French domestic cases to ensure that human rights are not being violated. When it comes to issues of religion, human rights are of particular relevance, and it is crucial that you understand the role that European institutions play in this arena.

As a representative in a simulation of the french government, you must understand that secularism in France today is closely intertwined with issues such as immigration, integration, and education, and can not be debated or considered in a vacuum. I advise that you educate yourselves on contemporary issues facing the french education system, as well as the societal divisions that are common today, especially in French urban centers. Having a solid background on a variety of current topics in France will help inform your position and contribute to the rigor of your argument.

Lastly, I encourage you to become closely acquainted with the position and opinions of your assigned minister. With the political bouleversement caused by the recent presidential election, many of you will be representing individuals with a shorter history of public service. Each and every one of the members of the French government brings a unique perspective to the table, and it is crucial to the quality of our debate that you understand what distinguishes you from other ministers in our cabinet.

Lastly, please do not hesitate to email me at alexander.rivkin@yale.edu should have any questions about research or general concerns of whatever nature.