Published on: 04/20/2022 – 13:55 The candidate of the National Rally puts forward in her program several proposals for reform of the Constitution which come up against their feasibility. But Marine Le Pen claims to want to override it thanks to the support of the “people”. Marine Le Pen has big plans for the Constitution which, as it stands, does not suit her. The candidate of the National Rally, who will face Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the presidential election on April 24, intends to revise the fundamental text of the Fifth Republic. She wishes, on the one hand, to include the “national priority” and, on the other hand, to introduce the citizens’ initiative referendum (RIC) in order to “make it easier to organize referendums on all subjects”. : it is impossible to modify the Constitution with a snap of the fingers. This is being revised thanks to its article 89, which provides that the text must first be adopted in identical terms by the deputies and senators before being submitted by referendum to all the electors or being voted on by at least three-fifths of Parliament meeting in Congress.>> To read also: “Le Pen-Macron debate: avoiding missteps in the home stretch” Such a procedure therefore requires having a majority at the same time National Assembly and the Senate or to submit a text that is sufficiently consensual for it to be accepted by the opposition. Emmanuel Macron, himself, broke his teeth with his draft revision of the Constitution in 2018 and then in 2019. Not having a majority in the Senate, held by Les Républicains, the President of the Republic is not managed during his five-year term to have his text adopted. Never mind! Marine Le Pen affirms that she will use article 11 of the Constitution, which makes it possible to organize referendums on “any bill relating to the organization of public powers, on reforms relating to economic, social or environment of the nation and the public services that contribute to it, or tending to authorize the ratification of a treaty which, without being contrary to the Constitution, would have an impact on the functioning of the institutions”. “If the French people choose to change their Constitution, then he will do it”The far-right candidate relies on the precedent created by General de Gaulle in 1962. The first president of the Fifth Republic had effectively used article 11 to organize the referendum which made it possible to establish direct universal suffrage in the presidential election. “Since that date, it has been established that the Constitution could be modified by referendum directly,” said Marine Le Pen on April 12 on France Inter. Marine Le Pen arranges here with the historical facts. The use of Article 11 by General de Gaulle to revise the Constitution had at the time been criticized by a large majority of jurists. Moreover, “the Council of State clearly summarized the state of the law in its ‘Sarran and Levacher’ decision, rendered in its most solemn formation on October 30, 1998 (…): only article 89 can be used to revise the Constitution,” say four law professors in an op-ed published on April 12 in Le Monde. is the Hauchemaille case law”, they add.>> To see: “Marine Le Pen-Emmanuel Macron: two visions of the world” Clearly, the Hauchemaille decision allows the Constitutional Council to control the constitutionality of the referendum even before its organization. A case law that Marine Le Pen brushed aside when it was opposed to her during her interview on France Inter. “The only sovereign in France is the people. If the French people choose to change their Constitution, then they will do so,” she said. was to complete its project despite the unfavorable opinion of the Constitutional Council, this would open an institutional crisis. “Under the terms of the Constitution, the decisions of the Constitutional Council are binding on the public authorities and are not subject to any appeal. If it nevertheless decided to override it, we would be on the verge of a coup , in the face of a serious questioning of our institutions likely to justify a dismissal”, also believes the constitutionalist Anne Levade, professor of public law at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, interviewed by Les Échos on April 13. danger that does not fail to point the finger at his opponent in the second round. “The implicit in Ms. Le Pen’s approach is that basically, once elected, she considers that she is superior to the Constitution, since she may not respect it to change the rules. That , it’s a break, and it’s serious”, pointed out Emmanuel Macron in an interview with France Culture, broadcast on Monday.>> To read also: “The vote of seniors, arbiter of the Emmanuel Macron-Marine Le Pen duel? “Others do it in other countries, it is done very well in Hungary, it allows you to change a regime by hand, but I denounce it”, continued the head of state in reference to authoritarian inclinations. by Viktor Orban. A parallel that the authors of the column published in Le Monde also draw. “This political project consisting in violating the Constitution to inscribe therein, by calling for a referendum, the far-right nationalist ideology carried by the National Rally says a lot about the way in which Mrs. Le Pen envisages her accession to the head of the “State. Like all authoritarian leaders, she wants to dynamite liberal democracy by appealing to the people,” they point out.