A-Infos (en) France, La Plateforme CL: The National Rally's constitutional revision: a coup d'état project (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

A victory for the National Rally (RN) in the 2027 presidential election 
would not simply be a political shift, nor a mere hardening of policies 
against migrants. The constitutional proposal that the RN intends to 
have adopted after its potential victory reveals its true intentions. 
Don't you think the RN is planning a genuine break with the Fifth 
Republic? Read its writings on the National Assembly's website!
This draft constitutional bill is public knowledge. It was tabled on 
Thursday, January 25, 2024, in the National Assembly and is therefore 
available online. Naturally, it contains no provisions on the globalized 
bourgeoisie's accumulation of power and wealth; on the explosion of 
social inequalities and its consequences in terms of the impoverishment 
suffered by the working classes; on the changes in the organization of 
work resulting from Artificial Intelligence (AI); or finally, on the 
necessary fight against climate change. It only addresses the obsessions 
of the far right. It solely defines the National Rally's intentions 
regarding nationality, immigration, and the deliberate break with 
international treaties that guarantee the most basic human rights.

Firstly, regarding the procedure, the National Rally (RN) claims it 
wants to adopt its constitutional text by referendum using Article 11 of 
the current constitution, which, however, does not allow for this. The 
sole purpose of this article is to allow for the submission to 
referendum of bills "  concerning the organization of public powers, 
reforms relating to the nation's economic, social or environmental 
policy and the public services that contribute to it, or aimed at 
authorizing the ratification of a treaty  ."

Because the constitutional provisions governing an amendment to the 
constitution are those defined by Article 89. They impose more stringent 
conditions. In particular, the bill must be adopted by both houses (the 
Senate and the National Assembly) in identical terms before being 
submitted to a referendum. Given the current composition of the Senate, 
this will likely be impossible. This led the newspaper Le Monde to write 
on August 17, 2026, that this bill from the National Rally is "  a coup 
d'état in both substance and form  ."

Moreover, this constitutional project seeks to introduce a new provision 
allowing for amendments to the constitution through Article 11. Nicolas 
Hervieu, a professor at Sciences Po Law School, quoted in Le Monde , 
sees this new provision as enabling a mere temporary political majority 
to easily rewrite the Constitution without any safeguards. "  This would 
drastically alter the face of power and plunge us into something 
dizzying  ."

According to the aforementioned article in Le Monde , Marine Le Pen, 
aware of the risk of being censured by the Constitutional Council, " has 
nevertheless considered two ways out  ." One was to attempt to use 
Article 89 of the Constitution. This seems unlikely. The other, and more 
importantly, was to "  submit the Constitution of a 'Fifth Republic bis' 
directly to the people  , " thus circumventing   constitutional rules. 
This would, in effect, "  overturn the 1958 Constitution  ."

The rise of the far right to power would therefore immediately create a 
"  revolutionary  " situation, and there would likely be major political 
and social unrest. However, while we can already imagine that the 
adoption of such a constitution in France would place it outside the 
European Union, it is impossible to make any further predictions.

How will the majority who elected Le Pen and want her to implement her 
program react? How will the right and center react to this power grab, 
given that they may have refused to choose between Mélenchon and Le Pen? 
How will law enforcement react to a contested government that disregards 
existing constitutional rules? What will the social movement be able to 
do to combat this prospect? The only thing we can imagine is that this 
proposed constitutional amendment will prevent Le Pen's rise to power 
from being as peaceful as Giorgia Meloni's in Italy.

Immigration control and the foreigners' regime in France
After the form, let us examine the content of the constitutional reform 
desired by the RN, which begins with its xenophobic obsession.

"  Control of Immigration and the Status of Foreigners in France  " is 
the title of Title 1, the central section of the National Rally's 
proposed constitutional revision. This proposal seeks to deny foreigners 
virtually all rights, including children's rights, the right to family 
life, the right to access the courts, the right to employment, and the 
right to housing. It would render ineffective the principle that "  any 
person persecuted for their actions in support of liberty has the right 
to asylum on the territory of the Republic  ." And, of course, this will 
also have negative consequences for  French citizens  .

To this end, this project aims to free France from the application of 
the "  International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights  ", the " 
International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights  ", the " 
International Convention on the Rights of the Child  ", the "  Geneva 
Convention on Refugees  ", and  the "European Social Charter  ".

Article 1 aims to enshrine a discriminatory policy and effectively 
eliminate all human rights for foreigners. It stipulates that "the law 
(...) limits foreigners' access  " to employment "  in the private 
sector and, where applicable, in the public sector, as well as to the 
benefits of public services and policies, including housing  ." 
Furthermore, the explanatory memorandum accompanying this draft 
constitutional law states that family allowances can be reserved for 
nationals.

Furthermore, the presence of a foreigner "  must not constitute an 
unreasonable burden on public finances and the social welfare system  ." 
This would allow, for example, the expulsion of foreign workers who lose 
their jobs. "  Family reunification of foreigners may be prohibited  . "

Shocking to the highest degree, another paragraph specifies that "  the 
laws and regulations which implement this article and article 53-1 may 
apply to foreign minors and distinguish between foreigners according to 
their nationality, the duration of their stay in France, their family 
situation or their resources, and between the different parts of the 
national territory  ."

Similarly, the draft constitutional law reverses one of the major 
achievements of the French Revolution: It allows the government, "  by 
way of derogation from the provisions of Article 66[which states that no 
one may be arbitrarily detained]", to establish, outside of any legal 
principle, "  the rules assigning to the courts of the administrative 
order the litigation of administrative measures placing in detention or 
limiting the freedom of movement of foreigners in an irregular situation 
or awaiting removal  ".

Then we come to a first consequence for citizens who do not subscribe to 
the inhumane logic of the National Rally. The constitution addresses " 
the penalties applicable to any person who, through direct or indirect 
assistance and for any reason whatsoever, facilitates or attempts to 
facilitate the irregular entry, movement, stay, or employment of a 
foreigner on the territory, or their evasion of a removal order  ." To 
be clearer, the explanatory memorandum of this text specifies that "  no 
exemption from punishment may be granted, in the name of a distorted 
concept of 'fraternity,' in cases of assistance to undocumented 
immigrants  ."

Article 2 then addresses the right to asylum in order to render it 
inapplicable. Asylum applications "  must be submitted exclusively 
outside the national territory  ." Thus, for example, an opponent of 
Putin will have to wait patiently in Russia for France's administrative 
decision after submitting an asylum application to the French consulate. 
At most, it is envisaged that they might be accommodated elsewhere 
during this waiting period: "  During the examination of their 
applications, applicants are received on the territory of States with 
which the Republic has concluded agreements for this purpose  ."

Defining the nationality and identity of France
Next comes the fundamental transformation of nationality law desired by 
the National Rally. Firstly, birthright citizenship is abolished in 
favor of the transmission of nationality solely through descent. "  The 
means of acquiring[French nationality]by right are therefore eliminated  ."

Furthermore, "  the organic law determines the cases of loss or 
forfeiture of nationality  ." Nowhere does it state that this only 
concerns those who have recently acquired French nationality or who have 
no other nationality. The explanatory memorandum specifies that 
forfeiture of nationality will be established by law "  in the event of 
committing an act incompatible with French citizenship or detrimental to 
the interests of the Nation  ." Such vague wording allows for all 
possible interpretations. Is wearing the Islamic veil an act 
incompatible with French citizenship? Is calling for militant 
mobilization to oppose national preference detrimental to the interests 
of the Nation? This text opens the door to the deprivation of 
nationality for all French citizens who oppose the far right, as is 
already happening in countries governed by the far right.

Another development, which might seem less fundamental, is that Article 
5 of Le Pen's text amends Article 3 of the Constitution, whose last 
paragraph would become: "  Only French nationals of both sexes who have 
reached the age of majority and enjoy their civil and political rights 
are eligible to vote and to stand for election , under the conditions 
determined by law.  " Thus, the National Rally (RN) aims to definitively 
close off voting rights to foreigners at any level. This desire to 
exclude foreigners living in France from any form of citizenship is 
better understood by examining the following provision: "  The law also 
establishes the rules concerning (...) the conditions of access for 
foreigners[to]positions of professional or trade union representation ," 
thus allowing for the prohibition of all political and trade union 
activity for foreigners.

Let's now turn to the far-right's view of French identity. "  A 
fundamental element of France's identity and heritage,[the French 
language]is the language of education, work, commerce, and public 
services  ." The use of any other language in education, work, commerce 
, and public services would therefore be prohibited.

While regional languages are granted special treatment and  may be 
taught on an optional basis  , any language other than French would 
become constitutionally prohibited in France, both in metropolitan 
France and its overseas territories. English, Arabic, sub-Saharan 
African languages, Chinese, or even regional languages... It would be 
forbidden to communicate in France in any language other than French. It 
would be forbidden not to speak French at work, in court... the 
xenophobia of the far right is bordering on madness.

Finally, there is the question of safeguarding France's identity, posed 
primarily in terms of heritage. The aim is to ensure "  the safeguarding 
of France's identity and the protection of its historical, cultural, and 
linguistic heritage and its landscapes  ." This pseudo-identity is based 
on a reactionary vision of France, conceived as eternal, unalterable, 
and impervious to cultural exchange. In such a conception, having Aya 
Nakamura perform at the opening of the Olympic Games would obviously 
become impossible. And eating sushi or kebabs? Clearly, none of this 
makes any sense in a constitution.

In conclusion
The far-right's proposed constitutional amendments challenge the legal 
order that establishes an international treaty signed and ratified by a 
country's political bodies as superior to constitutional or national 
laws, even if those laws are subsequently amended. And all this without 
requiring the ratified treaty to be denounced. From a legal standpoint, 
this is a monstrosity.

But in reality, the National Rally's primary objective is to free itself 
from all the European Union (EU) rules that hinder it, without 
officially stating so. Wanting to leave the EU is a political stance. 
But since the National Rally knows that asserting such a position today 
would be an insurmountable obstacle to winning the presidential 
elections, it lies to the voters. And ultimately, this part of its 
constitutional project is first and foremost a necessity for the 
National Rally if it wants to be able to pursue its outrageously 
xenophobic policies.

Furthermore, we find here and there some very worrying provisions that 
reinforce this logic. For example, "  Ignorance of the provisions (...) 
of the second sentence of the fourteenth paragraph of the preamble to 
the 1946 Constitution cannot be invoked before the Constitutional 
Council or upheld by it  ." It should be noted that this second part of 
the fourteenth paragraph states only that the French Republic "  will 
not undertake any war with a view to conquest and will never use its 
forces against the liberty of any people  ." Thus, the French 
constitution, in its National Rally version, authorizes itself in 
advance to wage such wars.

For those who haven't yet grasped it, the National Rally's rise to power 
is not just another political twist in France. Certainly, the Fifth 
Republic contains detestable authoritarian provisions. Certainly, the 
French constitution allows for a state of emergency, which means that 
administrative authorities, in the event of a "  crisis  ," can restrict 
freedoms, place opponents under house arrest, close certain venues, 
prohibit demonstrations, and authorize administrative searches.

The National Rally's rise to power would be a very different matter, 
first and foremost for legal immigrants, who make up nearly 9% of the 
population, but potentially also for anyone who doesn't have the right 
skin color. As for opponents of the National Rally, and this isn't 
limited to anti-fascists, we can fear the implementation of a genuine 
policy of intimidation and repression. The National Rally's platform 
paves the way for the widespread stripping of citizenship from 
opponents, just like in Putin's Russia.

We must do everything in our power to prevent the far right from coming 
to power. This is the first time such a possibility has had a 
significant probability of occurring. Let's make sure it never happens.

https://plateformecl.org/la-revision-constitutionnelle-du-rn-un-projet-de-coup-detat/
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