Invited on television on September 22, Prime Minister Michel Barnier, speaking after his government was appointed, reasserted – as he had already done at a September 12 gathering of MPs from his party, Les Républicains (LR, right) – that there were "no reserved domains" attributed to the president of the French Republic, but rather "shared domains." He then added that "this spirit of positive, dynamic compromise" with the president was necessary, in the "interests of the country."
These comments are in line with those made by Alain Peyrefitte (1925-1999), former president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's justice minister, in March 1978: "The reserved domain doesn't exist (...). It's a false theory that has no constitutional basis." With this statement, the historic supporter of former president and World War 2 hero General De Gaulle, was sounding the alarm, as the united left (the Parti Socialiste and Parti Communiste), with its joint policy platform, threatened to win the March 12 and 19 parliamentary elections – which, ultimately, did not happen.
"In the text of the Constitution, the 'reserved domain' is not written anywhere," confirmed law professor Dominique Rousseau. Former prime minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas (1915-2000) initially elaborated this notion at the 1959 Union pour la nouvelle République party conference. This was at the start of the Fifth Republic, and the De Gaulle-aligned party did not have a majority of supporting MPs. Chaban-Delmas, who had recently been elected as president of the Assemblée Nationale – against the General de Gaulle's wishes – described a "reserved or presidential sector" that "included Algeria, not forgetting the Sahara, the Franco-African community, foreign affairs and defense." He went on to say that, despite this, "this open sector relates to the rest, a rest that is, incidentally, considerable, as it incorporates the very elements of the human condition. In the first sector, the government executes; in the second, it conceives."
General de Gaulle – who, as a good military man, believed that everything derived from his authority – was disgusted. After three years of champing at the bit, he got his revenge after the "yes" vote won in his 1962 referendum, which established that the president of the Republic was to be elected by direct universal suffrage (instead of the previous electoral college system). Thereafter, in his January 31, 1964 press conference, he laid out a real "de Gaulle Constitution," defining his power with two major declarations: "A Constitution is a spirit, institutions and a practice"; and, above all: "There is no dyarchy at the top of the State." So much for the reserved domain. "The indivisible authority of the State is in the president's hands: He distributes responsibilities according to circumstances," summarized Rousseau.
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