The State of Health Emergency in France due to the Covid-19 and the Marginalization of Parliament

Sylvia Brunet (1, 2)

1 IRIHS - Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Homme et Société
2 CUREJ - Centre Universitaire Rouennais d'Études Juridiques

“We are at war”. These words were pronounced on Monday, 16th March 2020 by the French President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who called for national unity against an “invisible enemy” called Corona virus or Covid-19. But the war terminology, the declaration of a State of emergency and the management of the crisis within the framework of the Defence Council are not appropriate to resolve public-health issues. On the one hand, the role of this Council is not to participate to the management of a health crisis and, on the other hand, the final decision should be up to the legislator in a parliamentary system like the French one. Finally, the crisis reveals that neither the Parliament nor local democracy can fight against the “super-presidentialism”. In other words, it reveals the lack of democratic checks and balances and the political and institutional malfunctions of our Fifth Republic.

Mots clés: Covid-19; State of Emergency; Parliament

Domaines: Droit

Sylvia Brunet. The State of Health Emergency in France due to the Covid-19 and the Marginalization of Parliament. International legal studies III, 2020, The effect of the “corona virus” in Global, European and National Law, 978-3-86977-136-6. ⟨hal-02908151⟩