Jacques Chirac, a staunch abolitionist, decided to add an amendment to the French Constitution on 23 February 2007. He was among those on the right who voted against their ranks in favour of Badinter’s draft law on abolition of the death penalty. Indeed, thirty-one members of parliament from RPR (Rassemblement pour la République) and UDF (Union pour la démocratie française) voted “YES” to abolition on 17 and 18 September 1981. Chirac even made a statement during the 1981 election campaign, joining candidate Mitterrand on the abolitionist issue, against the retentionist Giscard. And once he was Head of State he decided to make his contribution. A first step towards this change took place in 1994, when the Constitutional Council ruled that the protection of the human person was a principle of constitutional value. President Chirac decided to convene Parliament, considering that the Constitution was no longer valid in light of European texts ratified by France.

“Through the process of constitutionalisation, Jacques Chirac sought to show that he wanted to make the abolition of the death penalty in France irreversible. I do not question his conviction at all. It was not in any way a politically calculated move.”[1] On 19 February 2007, the two houses meeting in joint session as Congress in Versailles, voted in favour of the constitutional bill. Following its presentation to the Council of Ministers on 17 January 2007, it was adopted on first reading by the National Assembly on 30 January and by the Senate on 7 February. During the Congress in Versailles, twenty-eight members of parliament opposed this decision, including the three representatives of Philippe de Villiers’ party, the MPF (Mouvement pour la France). There was one speaker per group during the Congress debates. Robert Badinter was the rapporteur for the Socialist group. Each speaker had the floor for five minutes. Jean-Louis Debré, then President of the National Assembly, a fervent abolitionist, allowed Senator Badinter to take all the time he wanted on 19 February, an opportunity of which he took advantage. And it was Pascal Clément, Minister of Justice, who presented to Parliament the constitutional bill on the prohibition of the death penalty, proposing to add to Title VIII of the Constitution: “No one shall be sentenced to the death penalty.” The young and virulent retentionist member of parliament of 1981 became a supporter of full abolition of the death penalty. “When I went up to the rostrum, I remembered that, as a young MP, I had climbed the steps to say exactly the opposite. Politicians are sometimes criticised for changing their minds and being inconsistent in their positions. What I regret is that I did not change my mind earlier.”[2]

France became an abolitionist country under the presidency of François Mitterrand, following the adoption of Law No. 81-908 of 9 October 1981 abolishing the death penalty. However, it was not until the election of Jacques Chirac as President of the Republic that this prohibition found its way into the Constitution. Constitutional Law No. 2007-239 of 23 February 2007 on the prohibition of the death penalty added Article 66-1 to Title VIII of the Constitution, providing that “No one shall be sentenced to the death penalty.” Today, France is a fully abolitionist country, a country that is part of a body - the European Union - where capital punishment no longer exists because it is legally prohibited. To complete this abolitionist transformation, France refuses to extradite prisoners to countries where they could be sentenced to death.

Marie Bardiaux-Vaïente

[1] Interview with Robert Badinter, 5 December 2011, by Marie Bardiaux-Vaïente.

[2] Transcript of the speech to the National Assembly by Pascal Clément, Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice, 30 January 2007.