# Deputy Prime Minister of France

The deputy prime minister of France was a position which existed at times in the government of France between 1870 and 1958. It was titled vice president of the Council of Ministers (French: vice-président du Conseil des ministres) from 1871, or vice president of the Council for short.
It was in itself a sinecure, used to grant seniority immediately after the prime minister to one important member of the government, later up to three at the same time, but without specific duty or power, or any role as designated acting prime minister. However, in 1871–1876 and 1940–1942, it was actually used for the de facto prime minister, as the position was nominally held by the head of state.

## Position
### As deputy

The position of deputy prime minister existed only occasionally during the Third Republic (1870–1940, starting only in the 1910s), the Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944–1946), and the Fourth Republic (1946–1958).
As for all other members of the government, the appointment, or removal, was formally by the head of state, but bowing to the decision of the prime minister.
Although it implied a role of deputy head of government, the position was in itself a sinecure, which brought seniority right after the prime minister (president of the Council), but came without any specific duty or power unless arranged by separate decisions, or any role as designated acting prime minister. The holder sometimes concurrently served as minister for a specific government department, as did the prime minister at the end of the Third Republic, but was otherwise a top-ranking minister without portfolio, with informal responsibilities. A responsibility was however directly assigned to the vice presidency on two occasions, in 1938–1940 when Camille Chautemps was put in charge of coordination of the recently established Office of the Prime Minister, and in 1951 when Guy Mollet was in charge of the Council of Europe. There was initially only one holder at a time, while a position of minister of state, which ranked higher than ordinary ministers, could be granted to several members, also with or without portfolio; there were however up to three vice presidencies in later governments.
Depending on the political situation, it could reflect the personal standing of the holder, especially if he was a former prime minister, or his role as leader or representative of an important party of the government combination, especially for the two junior parties of the tripartisme in 1946–1947. Positions of minister of state were already used for the same purpose since the 19th century; deputy prime ministers ranked above these when both existed at the same time, making it possible for the prime minister to draw up a subtle order of seniority.
The first holder was Aristide Briand in 1914, chosen at the start of World War I by René Viviani; as the government had partially transferred from Paris to Bordeaux, this enabled him to deputize for Vivani, or for the foreign and war ministers, when they came and went between the two cities. Viviani was also the first prime minister not holding a specific portfolio in order to concentrate on the coordination of an expanding state apparatus. The last was Guy Mollet in 1958.
An equivalent position had also existed in a provisional government, the Government of National Defence (1870–1871), which had a vice president (vice-président du Gouvernement de la défense nationale).

### As head of government

In two short periods, the title was however used for the de facto head of government himself, because the head of state formally held the position of prime minister as well.
In 1871, for lack of a permanent constitution, Adolphe Thiers was installed as chief executive of the French Republic in February; while the Rivet Law granted him the title of president of the Republic in August, this was in compensation for a restriction of his powers by the National Assembly, under which ministers were made responsible to the assembly. As he wanted to maintain a direct involvement in government business and kept the additional position of prime minister, the minister to whom he delegated the leadership of the quasi-national government formed in February on 2 September, the minister of justice Jules Armand Dufaure, received the title of vice president of the Council. His successor Patrice de MacMahon left a larger degree of autonomy to his deputy. After republicans won the 1876 legislative election, MacMahon, a monarchist, accepted to appoint a republican ministry, but on 9 March transferred the title of president of the Council to its leader, Dufaure again, in order to stress that he took no responsibility for it. In his government statement, Dufaure defined his new position by declaring that he had been “chosen by the President of the Republic to exercise in his name the powers conferred on him by the Constitution”.
At the start of the Vichy Regime (1940–1944), Philippe Pétain, the last prime minister of the Third Republic who proclaimed himself head of the French State, made Pierre Laval the leading minister when he re-appointed him as his deputy on 12 July. Pétain dismissed and replaced Laval a few months later, but he was eventually forced by the German occupation authorities to recall him with increased prerogatives on 18 April 1942, upon which he granted him the title of head of the Government (chef du Gouvernement), even though he himself nominally kept the title of president of the Council.

## List

| Holder and concurrent position | Holder and concurrent position | Government | Term of office | Term of office | Party |
| Third Republic Third Republic (1870–1940) |||||||
| 1870–1871 1870–1871 (vice president of the Government of National Defence) |||||||
| | Jules Favre Minister of Foreign Affairs | National Defence | 4 September 1870 | 13 February 1871 | Moderate Republicans |
| 1871–1876 1871–1876 |||||||
| Main listing: List of prime ministers of France § Presidents of the Council of Ministers 4 |||||||
| 1876–1940 1876–1940 |||||||
| | Aristide Briand Minister of Justice | 2nd Viviani | 26 August 1914 | 29 October 1915 | PRS |
| | René Viviani Minister of Justice | 5th Briand | 29 October 1915 | 12 December 1916 | PRS |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Joseph Caillaux Minister of Finance | 10th Briand | 23 June 1926 | 23 July 1926 | Radical |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Lucien Hubert Minister of Justice | 1st Tardieu | 3 November 1929 | 24 February 1930 | Radical |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Paul Reynaud (1st) Minister of Justice and for the Control of Public Administrations | 3rd Tardieu | 20 February 1932 | 3 June 1932 | AD |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Albert Dalimier Minister of Justice | 1st Sarraut | 26 October 1933 | 24 November 1933 | Radical |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Édouard Daladier (1st) Minister of National Defence and War | 1st Blum | 4 June 1936 | 21 June 1937 | Radical |
| | Léon Blum (1st) | 3rd Chautemps | 23 June 1937 | 14 January 1938 | SFIO |
| | Édouard Daladier (2nd–3rd) Minister of National Defence and War | 4th Chautemps, 2nd Blum | 18 January 1938 | 8 April 1938 | Radical |
| | Camille Chautemps (1st) In charge of coordination of the Office of the Prime Minister | 3rd Daladier | 10 April 1938 | 20 March 1940 | Radical |
| | Camille Chautemps (2nd) Minister of Coordination (of the Office of the Prime Minister) | Reynaud | 21 March 1940 | 16 June 1940 | Radical |
| | Philippe Pétain Minister of State | Reynaud | 18 May 1940 (joined) | 16 June 1940 | Independent |
| | Camille Chautemps (3rd) Minister of State | Pétain | 16 June 1940 | 11 July 1940 | Radical |
| | Pierre Laval (1st) Minister of State | Pétain | 23 June 1940 (joined) | 11 July 1940 | Independent |
| Vichy Regime Vichy Regime (1940–1944) |||||||
| Main listing: List of prime ministers of France § Vice-Presidents of the Council of Ministers |||||||
| Provisional Government of the French Republic Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944–1946) |||||||
| | Francisque Gay | Gouin | 26 January 1946 | 12 June 1946 | MRP |
| | Maurice Thorez (1st) | Gouin | 26 January 1946 | 12 June 1946 | PCF |
| | Félix Gouin | 1st Bidault | 24 June 1946 | 28 November 1946 | SFIO |
| | Maurice Thorez (2nd) | 1st Bidault | 24 June 1946 | 28 November 1946 | PCF |
| Fourth Republic Fourth Republic (1946–1958) |||||||
| | Pierre-Henri Teitgen (1st) Minister of State (from 4 May: in charge of the Civil Service and Administrative Reform) | 1st Ramadier | 22 January 1947 | 21 October 1947 | MRP |
| | Maurice Thorez (3rd) Minister of State | 1st Ramadier | 22 January 1947 | 4 May 1947 (dismissed) | PCF |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Pierre-Henri Teitgen (2nd) | Marie | 26 July 1948 | 28 August 1948 | MRP |
| | Léon Blum (2nd) | Marie | 26 July 1948 | 28 August 1948 | SFIO |
| | André Marie (1st) | 2nd Schuman | 5 September 1948 | 11 September 1948 | Radical |
| | André Marie (2nd) Minister of Justice | 1st Queuille | 11 September 1948 | 13 February 1949 (resigned) | Radical |
| | Robert Lecourt Minister of Justice | 1st Queuille | 13 February 1949 (joined) | 5 October 1949 | MRP |
| | Henri Queuille (1st) | 2nd Bidault | 28 October 1949 | 7 February 1950 | Radical |
| | Jules Moch Minister of the Interior | 2nd Bidault | 28 October 1949 | 7 February 1950 | SFIO |
| | Henri Queuille (2nd) Minister of the Interior | 3rd Bidault | 7 February 1950 | 24 June 1950 | Radical |
| | Georges Bidault (1st) | 2nd Queuille | 2 July 1950 | 4 July 1950 | MRP |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Georges Bidault (2nd) | 3rd Queuille | 10 March 1951 | 10 July 1951 | MRP |
| | René Pleven | 3rd Queuille | 10 March 1951 | 10 July 1951 | UDSR |
| | Guy Mollet (1st) In charge of the Council of Europe. | 3rd Queuille | 10 March 1951 | 10 July 1951 | SFIO |
| | Georges Bidault (3rd) Minister of National Defence | 2nd Pleven | 11 August 1951 | 7 January 1952 | MRP |
| | René Mayer (2nd) Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs | 2nd Pleven | 11 August 1951 | 7 January 1952 | Radical |
| | Georges Bidault (4th) Minister of National Defence | 1st Faure | 20 January 1952 | 28 February 1952 | MRP |
| | Henri Queuille (3rd) Minister of State | 1st Faure | 20 January 1952 | 28 February 1952 | Radical |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Henri Queuille (4th) | Mayer | 8 January 1953 | 21 May 1953 | Radical |
| | Paul Reynaud (2nd) | Laniel | 28 June 1953 | 12 June 1954 | CNIP |
| | Henri Queuille (5th) | Laniel | 28 June 1953 | 12 June 1954 | Radical |
| | Pierre-Henri Teitgen (3rd) | Laniel | 28 June 1953 | 12 June 1954 | MRP |
| Position in abeyance |||||||
| | Guy Mollet (2nd) | Pflimlin | 15 May 1958 (joined) | 28 May 1958 | SFIO |
| 1 2 3 Some were not formally granted the position, but are commonly described as having been deputy as a matter of political arrangement: Briand, Viviani, and Hubert. Caillaux was the first to be legally appointed to the position, explicitly included in his appointment decree. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Former prime minister. 1 2 3 4 5 Formed the next government. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Prime minister of the previous government. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Party leader. ↑ The title of vice president of the Council of Ministers was used again although the head of government was chairman of the Provisional Government, not president of the Council. |||||||

## Earlier and later systems

The meetings of the Council of Ministers have always been chaired by the head of state (emperor, king, president); when the role of head of government emerged in the late 1810s under the Restoration, the title of “president” of that body came to be used, because it included the responsibility to prepare the agenda and the business to be dealt with. This was however only by convention, and the position or title of head of government had no legal existence until the 1870s; some other ministers were informally considered second-in-command, but were not commonly called vice president.
During the Second Empire (1852–1870), the position of prime minister had been pointedly abolished by Napoleon III, who led government business in person, but the minister of state, who was ranked first and was close to the Emperor, came to be seen as the primus inter pares, especially when speaking in the name of the Emperor in important parliamentary business.
Although the position of prime minister came in legal existence when it re-emerged in the 1870s, the office did not appear in a French constitution before 1946; that of deputy never did.
The position of deputy prime minister (potentially vice-Premier ministre) has never been granted under the Fifth Republic (1958–present). The Constitution simply provides that the prime minister "may delegate certain of his powers to ministers" (article 21). Nicolas Hulot, who served as minister for the ecological and solidary transition with the rank of minister of state in the first year of Emmanuel Macron's presidency, had long publicly called for a position of deputy prime minister in charge of the environment, and said that Macron had considered his elevation, but determined that it would be "not constitutional".