IVG in the Constitution: everything you need to know about Congress, which meets this Monday

Ophélie Artaud 5:09 p.m., March 1, 2024

This Monday, March 4, the two chambers of Parliament will meet in Versailles to ratify the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution.

A fairly rare event, since the Congress has only been convened 20 times since 1958. But in practice, how does this institution work? 

This is the final step before the inclusion of “guaranteed freedom” for voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in the Constitution.

After going through the National Assembly, then the Senate, it is the turn of Congress to meet this Monday, March 4 to ratify the constitutionalization of abortion.

A rare event, since the two chambers of Parliament were only met 20 times under the Fifth Republic.

But how does this institution work?

Europe 1 takes stock.

What is Congress?

First of all, Congress corresponds to the meeting of the two houses of Parliament, the National Assembly (lower house) and the Senate (upper house).

At the invitation of the President of the Republic, the 577 deputies and 348 senators meet in the hemicycle of the Aile du Midi, located within the Palace of Versailles. 

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As soon as the Senate voted in favor of including abortion in the Constitution, Emmanuel Macron announced that he would convene the Congress.

If it is the Head of State who brought together the Congress, he cannot be present in the hemicycle, to respect the principle of separation of powers.

I am committed to making women's freedom to have an abortion irreversible by enshrining it in the Constitution.

After the National Assembly, the Senate is taking a decisive step which I welcome.

For the final vote, I will convene Parliament in Congress on March 4.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 28, 2024

In what cases can it be met?

Congress can be convened for three different reasons.

Firstly, and this has been the case since 1958, during a revision of the Constitution.

The project is definitively adopted if it obtains a three-fifths majority of the votes cast.

On Monday, it will therefore be necessary for 555 parliamentarians out of the 925 assembled to vote in favor of the constitutionalization of abortion to ratify it.

Also, since 2008, deputies and senators can be brought together in Congress to authorize the accession of a State to the European Union, or to hear a declaration from the President of the Republic.

In the latter case, "his declaration may give rise, without his presence, to a debate which is not the subject of any vote", it is written in the Constitution.

What are the specificities of the Congress?

If parliamentarians vote during a revision of the Constitution or to authorize the accession of a state to the EU, they cannot, however, table an amendment.

“As the people decide by referendum, they can only approve or reject the text submitted to them,” writes the National Assembly on its website.

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Among the other specificities of this institution, the fact that parliamentarians are placed in the hemicycle not according to their political group, but in alphabetical order.

Also, the Congress office is the same as that of the Palais-Bourbon: it is therefore the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who will chair the session.

When did Congress last meet?

Monday will be only the 21st time that Congress has met since 1958. The last ones date back to 2017 and 2018 and in both cases, Emmanuel Macron gave a speech to parliamentarians.

Before him, François Hollande, in 2015, and Nicolas Sarkozy, in 2009, also addressed the Congress.

The last meeting of Congress to revise the Constitution dates back to July 21, 2008, to modernize the institutions of the Fifth Republic.

A year earlier, in 2007, parliamentarians had also voted in favor of including the ban on the death penalty in the Constitution.

Since 1958, Congress has voted on 24 constitutional amendments, and approved 21 of them.

This Monday, how will the session take place?

On Monday, the Congress session will begin at 3:30 p.m.

As the site vie-publique explains, a member of the government will then speak, who should be Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, or Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti.

Then, the rapporteurs of the text will speak and finally, the speakers from each political group of the National Assembly and the Senate will be able to speak in turn for five minutes.

Finally, the vote will take place in the rooms adjacent to the hemicycle and will be open for 45 minutes.

If the constitutional revision is successful, France would become the first country in the world to protect abortion in its Constitution.