France: Is There a Need for a “Third Chamber”?

By the “third chamber” the author of the article means the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of France (CESE), which was associated with the high hopes of French society in the democratization of the post-war state. Created in 1946 as an economic, then social (1958) and finally environmental (2008), the Council, conceived as a “third constitutional assembly”, along with the National Assembly — the chamber of national representation, the Senate, representing territorial entities — should embody the country’s civil society. Within the framework of the current constitution of 1958, the Council acquired constitutional status.Despite its long history, debates about the need for French society of this institution did not subside throughout its entire activity. Attempts to liquidate the Council, undertaken by French parliamentarians in recent years, and especially their recent initiatives prompted the author of the proposed article to turn to the reasons for such close and not random attention to this institution. The fate of this institution is of far from speculative interest to domestic socio-political institutions; in this case, we are talking about the Russian Public Chamber, the creation of which was largely inspired by the experience of its French counterpart, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council.