Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Allameh Tabatabai University
Abstract
The President holds a high position in the political system of the Fifth Republic of France, which is based on the Constitution adopted on October 4, 1985. The characteristics of this political system require that the president have a lot of authority and at the same time be safe from aggression. The ambiguity of Article 68 of the above-mentioned constitution in stating the non-criminal responsibility of the President led to the issuance of contradictory opinions and interpretations by the various authorities of the content of this article. The decision of the French Constitutional Council of 22 January 1999 to declare a conflict between the statute of the International Criminal Court and the French Constitution on the criminal liability of the President and members of the Government also widened the scope of these discussions. Finally, the French president commissioned a commission to investigate the matter and make proposals for constitutional reform. In this regard, after a brief discussion of the Fifth Republic and the position of the President in this system, we will first discuss the principle of irresponsibility of the head of government and the need to reform it, and then examine the achievements of the Commission on Reflection on Presidential Criminal Responsibility.