Prime Minister of France

The prime minister is appointed by the president of France, who is theoretically free to pick anyone for the post. In practice, because the National Assembly has the power to force the resignation of the government by adopting a motion of no confidence, the choice of prime minister must reflect the will of the majority in the National Assembly. In periods of cohabitation, the prime minister is only responsible to the parliament. One example of cohabitation includes President François Mitterrand's appointment of Jacques Chirac as prime minister after the legislative election of 1986. While Mitterrand's Socialist Party was the largest party in the National Assembly, it did not have an absolute majority. The Rally for the Republic had an alliance with the Union for French Democracy, which gave them a majority. While prime ministers are usually chosen from amongst the ranks of the National Assembly, on rare occasions the president has selected a non-officeholder because of experience in bureaucracy or foreign service, or success in business management—former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin, for example, served as prime minister from 2005 to 2007 without having held elected office. Although the president's choice of prime minister must be in accordance with the majority in the National Assembly, a prime minister does not have to ask for a vote of confidence after a government formation, having been legitimized by the president's assignment and approval of the government. Prior to the 1958 Constitution, the government was required to pass a motion of confidence upon entering office. ==Role==

According to article 21 of the Constitution, the prime minister "shall direct the actions of the Government". Additionally, Article 20 with the president losing his status as head of the executive. In such cases, the prime minister traditionally exercises primacy in domestic affairs, while the president limits their action to defense and, to a lesser degree, to foreign affairs. The prime minister can "engage the responsibility" of the government before the National Assembly. This process consists of placing a bill before the assembly, and either the assembly overthrows the government, or the bill is passed automatically (article 49). In addition to ensuring that the government still has support in the house, some bills that might prove too controversial to pass through the normal assembly rules are able to be passed this way. The prime minister may also submit a bill that has not been yet signed into law to the Constitutional Council (article 61). Before dissolving the assembly, the president must consult the prime minister and the presidents of both houses of Parliament (article 12). The prime minister is the only member of the government able to introduce legislation in Parliament. ==History==

, the official residence of the prime minister Under the Third Republic, the French Constitutional Laws of 1875 titled the head of government as the "President of the Council of Ministers" (), though he was informally called "prime minister" or "premier" outside of France. The president of the council was vested with similar formal powers to those of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. In practice, this proved insufficient to command the confidence of France's multi-party parliament. Most notably, the legislature had the power to force the entire cabinet out of office by a vote of censure. As a result, cabinets were often toppled twice a year, and there were long stretches where France was left with only a caretaker government. Under the circumstances, the president of the council was usually a fairly weak figure whose strength was more dependent on charisma than formal powers. Often, he was little more than , and was more the cabinet's chairman than its leader. After several unsuccessful attempts to strengthen the role in the first half of the twentieth century, a semi-presidential system was introduced under the Fifth Republic. It was at this point that the post was formally named "Prime Minister" and took its present form. The 1958 Constitution includes several provisions intended to strengthen the prime minister's position, for instance by restricting the legislature's power to censure the government. As a result, a prime minister has only been censured twice during the existence of the Fifth Republic: the first such instance occurred in 1962 when Georges Pompidou was toppled over opposition objections to President Charles de Gaulle's effort to have the president popularly elected. At the ensuing 1962 French legislative election, de Gaulle's coalition won an increased majority, and Pompidou was reappointed prime minister. == Living former prime ministers of France ==

As of , there are 17 living former prime ministers. The most recent death of a former prime minister was that of Lionel Jospin (1997–2002), on 22 March 2026. File:Fabius EP 2016 (cropped).jpg|Laurent Fabius1984–1986 File:Edith Cresson-FIG 2010.jpg|Édith Cresson1991–1992 File:Édouard Balladur - 1993 (cropped).jpg|Édouard Balladur1993–1995 File:Alain Juppé à Québec (cropped 2) (cropped).jpg|Alain Juppé1995–1997 File:Jean-Pierre Raffarin par Claude Truong-Ngoc 2013 (cropped 2).jpg|Jean-Pierre Raffarin2002–2005 File:Launch Republique Solidaire 2010-06-19 n05 (cropped).jpg|Dominique de Villepin2005–2007 File:Dédicace F Fillon 06297 (cropped).JPG|François Fillon2007–2012 File:Jean-Marc Ayrault MSC 2017 (cropped).jpg|Jean-Marc Ayrault2012–2014 File:Manuel Valls 2025 (cropped).jpg|Manuel Valls2014–2016 File:Bernard Cazeneuve, (42399145362) (cropped).jpg|Bernard Cazeneuve2016–2017 File:Édouard Philippe à Châlons-en-Champagne en 2023. (cropped).jpg|Édouard Philippe2017–2020 File:Portrait Jean Castex (cropped).jpg|Jean Castex2020–2022 File:Élisabeth Borne in 2023.jpg|Élisabeth Borne2022–2024 File:Gabriel Attal 2025 (3x4 cropped).jpg|Gabriel Attal2024 File:Barnier Portrait (3x4 cropped).jpg|Michel Barnier2024 File:Bayrou Matignon (cropped).jpg|François Bayrou2024–2025 ==See also==