France

Abstract

Although France has different instruments of direct democracy at the national and local levels, the referendum practice is scarce at national level because there is no popular initiative. Since 2015, a new procedure called ‘shared referendum initiative’ allows a minority of parliamentarians supported by citizens to propose a bill that may be submitted to a referendum. There is not a single legislation regulating referendums and consultations in France. Laws have been adopted in order to regulate certain types of referendums, such as local referendums and shared initiative referendums, but some procedures are only regulated by the Constitution and occasionally by decrees. Various legal limits are imposed on the different referendum procedures provided for. At the national level, the Constitutional Council is competent to check some of these limits, but it is not competent to check the conformity with the Constitution of laws adopted by referendum.