Power to the people: French reform lets citizens challenge constitutionality of laws

French reform gives more power to the people

PARIS — They are known as “Les Sages” — the wise men — and their role is to judge whether French laws are constitutional. As a massive reform expanding their powers went into effect Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy instructed them to be a little wiser than usual.

The reform, described by Le Monde newspaper as a “Big Bang” in the legal field, gives ordinary French citizens a chance to petition the venerable Constitutional Council, challenging laws they believe violate civil liberties. Previously, only high-ranking politicians, including the president and prime minister, had that right.

In the past, the council ruled on laws before they went into effect. Now it has the power to strike down laws already in place. The reform, which has equivalents in many European countries, gives average citizens the right to challenge any law on the books.

Sarkozy called the change “important progress for guaranteeing citizens’ rights.”

In a speech, Sarkozy pointed out one absurdity of the old system. Before, French citizens could take their civil liberties complaints to the European Court of Human Rights but not France’s own Constitutional Council.

Sarkozy said the “wise men” and other institutions will have to “show even more wisdom than before.”

The council is expected to be busier, too, though there are filters in place. Complaints must come in the framework of court cases in which the law at issue comes into play. High courts will rule on which complaints make it to the Constitutional Council.

The council members’ experience in legal and constitutional matters varies, and some critics have complained that three newly named members are former parliamentarians who will be asked to judge laws they voted on.

The outgoing council is comprised of nine men — including two former presidents, Jacques Chirac and Valery Giscard d’Estaing — and two women. When three new members are inducted this month, the man-woman ratio will be 10-1. Members’ average age is around 70.

Five law and political science professors writing in Le Monde newspaper questioned how the aging council could be representative of society on issues such as gay adoption and biotechnology.

“Now more than ever, the Constitutional Council is an old club of males at the end of their political careers,” was the title of the piece.

Thierry Wickers, president of the National Council for the Bars, predicts many citizen challenges to penal, fiscal and environmental law, as well as on property rights issues.

Henri Braun, lawyer for France’s UFAT organization representing Gypsies, plans to use the reform to tackle a host of laws the group considers discriminatory.

First up: a challenge to a law allowing towns to evacuate travelers if they park their caravans outside specially designated areas. He filed the challenge a minute after midnight, as soon as the reform went into effect.