The principle of the count is even debate

Nicolas Sarkozy had promised. It is ultimately the Socialist Party which received it. In the revision of the Constitution, in July 2008, the head of State had, indeed, suggested that he was prepared to accept the count of his time in the media. Without further action. Nine months later, the Council of State, seized by deputies PS François Hollande and Didier Mathus, decided the matter.

So far, the speaking time of the President and his cabinet was, of course, recorded by the CSA Nicolas Sarkozy and his advisers are thus expressed for 7 hours and 43 minutes in the media in November 2008, for example but this time was not count against the quota allocated to the majority or the Government (third one, the last third returning to the opposition). Now, it may be all or part, depending on the nature of the speech. A victory for the left, which denounced since the beginning of its mandate the pervasiveness of Nicolas Sarkozy on television screens and partisan commitment.

For experts in constitutional law, it is not yet a decision that would sanction the drift of a scheme or an institutional change. "It is a democratic victory and not a sanction against Sarkozy, analysis Guy Carcassone, Professor of public law. The Council of State was, indeed, very careful to note that it takes into account the role of the head of State since 1958. The decision would have been exactly the same ten or twenty years ago. It is that it is the first time that the Council of State has been seized of the subject.

The role of majority leader

There is, indeed, that the President no longer has as a single arbitrator, above the parties. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand or Jacques Chirac not to are private to intervene in the Affairs of their respective formations. Nicolas Sarkozy, he even openly claims that majority leader role and place in the front line in the political fight. Latest examples in date: last January, it launches in person, at a national Council of the UMP, the kickoff of the campaign of the European; two weeks ago in the Aisne, he certainly delivered a speech on the economic crisis, but before UMP activists. Especially, and this is a great novelty, colleagues are not at rest. Henri Guaino, Special Advisor to the President, is not sparing of words to the media. As Claude Guéant, General Secretary of the UMP, he was Sunday still invited Europe 1 in the morning and BFM TV at night.

Remains a thorny issue: the counting procedures which will have to consider the APF, at the request of the Council of State. The time of the President be removed from the majority the Government Same question for colleagues Finally, the Council of State said that consideration should be given of "content and context." "This will be very complicated to implement." "He will have to analyze paragraph by paragraph reflected in activist discourse and the rest of the real lace of Calais", recognizes a member of the CSA, and add: "radio and TV are already starting to howl with the Wolf because it will ask for colossal ways." The principle of the count is even debate. Jean-Louis Missika, sociologist of media (and Assistant to the mairie de Paris): "this purely accounting and bureaucratic vision is completely outdated." "It would be better ensure the pluralism of debates covering the whole of the catch of speech on a subject, including on the part of unions or collectives".