Senate of France

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The Senate (French: Sénat) is the upper house of the Parliament of France.

The Senate enjoys less prominence than the lower house, the directly elected National Assembly; debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and enjoy generally less media coverage.

A Sénat was also the upper house during the French Consulate of 1799–1804.

1 Composition and election
2 Composition and membership
3 President
4 Powers
5 Location
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Composition and election

Until September 2004, the Senate had 321 senators, each elected to a nine-year term. On that date, the term was reduced to six years, while the number of senators will progressively increase to 346 in 2010 to reflect changes in the country's demographics. Senators were elected in thirds every three years; this will also change to one-half of their number every three years. [1]

Senators are elected indirectly by approximately 150,000 local elected officials ("grands électeurs"), including mayors, city councilors, and deputies of the National Assembly. This system introduces a bias in the composition of the Senate, which favours rural areas. As a consequence, while the political majority changes frequently in the National Assembly, the Senate has remained politically conservative since the foundation of the Fifth Republic, and it is expected that it will remain so in the forthcoming years.

Twelve senators are elected to represent French citizens living outside the Republic[2]

Following from a tradition started by the first National Assembly during the French Revolution, the "left-wing" parties sit to the left as seen from the president's seat, and the "right-wing" parties sit to the right, and the seating thus indicates the political spectrum as represented in the Senate.

[edit] Composition and membership

	Seats (2001)	Seats (2004)	Change
UMP Group	162	155	–7
Socialist Group	83	97	+14
Centrist Union - UDF Group	31	33	+2
Communist,Republican and Citizen Group	23	23	±0
Democratic, Social, and European Rally	17	16	–1
Non-Inscrits	5	7	+2
Total:	321	326	+5

Source:[3]

The Senate amphitheater in the Luxembourg Palace

[edit] President

Senators elect among themselves a President. The current incumbent is Christian Poncelet. The President of the Senate is also, according to the constitution of the Fifth Republic, first in line of succession in case of death, resignation or impeachment (only for health reasons) of the President of the Republic, thus becoming Acting President of the Republic until a new election can be held. This happened twice for Alain Poher, once at the resignation of Charles de Gaulle and once at the death of Georges Pompidou.

[edit] Powers

According to the Constitution, the Senate has nearly the same powers as the National Assembly. Bills may be submitted by the government (projets de loi) or by either house of Parliament (propositions de loi). However, the National Assembly ultimately has the final say, as the Senate is the inferior house. During a period of social dominance, or conflictual bicameralism, the Assembly can override a Senate veto.

Because both houses may amend the bill, it may take several readings to reach an agreement between the National Assembly and the Senate. When the Senate and the National Assembly cannot agree on a bill, the government can decide, after a procedure called commission mixte paritaire, to give the final decision to the National Assembly, whose majority is normally on the government's side. This does not happen frequently: most of the time both houses eventually agree on the bill, or the government decides to withdraw it. However, this power gives the National Assembly a prominent role in the law-making process, especially since the government is necessarily of the same side as the Assembly, for the Assembly can dismiss the government through a motion of censure. The power to pass a vote of censure, or vote of no confidence, is limited. As was the case in the Fourth Republic's Constitution, new cabinets do not have to receive a vote of confidence. Also, a vote of censure can only occur after 10 percent of the members sign a petition; if rejected, those members who signed cannot sign another petition until that session of parliament had ended. If the petition gets the required support, a vote of censure must gain an absolute majority of all members, not just those voting. If the Assembly and the Senate have politically distinct majorities, it is expected in most cases that the Assembly will prevail, so that open conflict between the two houses is uncommon.

The Senate also serves to monitor the government's actions by publishing many reports every year on various topics.

[edit] Location

Luxembourg Palace

The Senate is housed inside the Palais du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement of Paris and is guarded by Republican Guards. In front of the building lies the Senate's garden, the Jardin du Luxembourg, open to the public.