The President of the Republic uses this device under Article 18 of the French Constitution. It is not subject to debate.
Emmanuel Macron was extremely clear. In his address to the nation this Thursday at midday, the President of the Republic strongly condemned the Russian military intervention in Ukraine and assured that the sanctions would be “at the height of the aggression.” “We will be without weakness,” he promised.
At the end of the intervention, the Head of State also underlined that a message from him will be read this Friday in Parliament. As BFMTV learned, this reading should take place from 2:30 p.m.
Rare Device
This intervention is made possible by article 18 of the French Constitution, which provides that “the President of the Republic communicates with the two assemblies of Parliament by messages which he has read and which do not give rise to any debate”. Under the Fifth Republic, this rare device was only used 18 times.
The last dates back to July 2, 2002: Jacques Chirac, recently re-elected, intervened via a message read by the presidents of the two chambers, Christian Poncelet in the Senate and Jean-Louis Debré in the National Assembly. In total, the former president had used the device three times, including once in 1999 on the occasion of the ratification of the Treaty of Amsterdam.
His predecessors – De Gaulle, Pompidou, Giscard d’Estaing and Mitterrand – had used it, especially when they took office.
The device was also used in functions of the upheavals of history. In 1962, General de Gaulle made a declaration relating to the Évian Accords. In 1972, Pompidou sent a message on the occasion of the decree submitting the accession of four countries to the European Communities to a referendum. And in 1991, François Mitterrand seized the device to take stock of the commitment of the military forces of France in the Gulf War.
Four Congresses
Since a constitutional reform in 2008, the President of the Republic also has the possibility of speaking in person before Parliament, meeting in Congress. This was done four times: once by Nicolas Sarkozy, a second time by François Hollande following the attacks of November 13, 2015 and twice by Emmanuel Macron.