EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 24 September 2009  
on the nomination procedure for the Governor of the Banque de France  
(CON/2009/74) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 18 September 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the French Ministry for 
Economic Affairs, Industry and Employment for an opi nion on a draft organic law and a draft law on the 
application of Article 13, fifth paragraph, of the Fr ench Constitution (hereinafter, respectively, the ‘draft 
organic law’ and the ‘draft law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 
on the consultation of the European Central Bank by  national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions1, as the draft organic law and the draft law rela te to the Banque de France. In accordance with 
the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Pr ocedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing 
Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1. Purpose of the draft organic law and of the draft law 
1.1 The draft organic law and the draft law aim at implementing Article 13, fi fth paragraph, of the 
French Constitution as amended by the Constitutional Law of 23 July 2008
2. Article 13, fifth 
paragraph, of the French Constitution provides th at, for positions or functions of particular 
importance in guaranteeing rights and freedoms or  the Nation’s economic and social life, the 
nomination power of the President of the French Republic is carried out after a public opinion from 
the relevant permanent committee of each House of the French Parliament. It further provides that 
the President of the French Republic may not carry out a nomination if the sum of each committee’s negative votes represents at least three fifths of the valid votes within both 
committees. 
1.2 Given that the positions or functions concerned by  this Parliamentary control procedure are to be 
determined in an organic law by virtue of Article  13 of the French Constitution, the draft organic 
law precisely aims at setting the list of positions or  functions which are to be subject to the new 
procedure in view of their importance in guaranteeing rights and freedoms or the Nation’s 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2  Constitutional Law No 2008-724 of 23 July 2008 on modernising the institutions of the Vth Republic, Journal Officiel de 
la République Française , No 0171 of 24 July 2008, p. 11890. 
2 economic and social life. The func tion of Governor of the Banque de France is among the positions 
and functions listed. The draft organic law therefore aims at making the specific procedure provided for in Article 13, fifth paragraph, of the French Constitution applicable to the Governor of 
the Banque de France, thereby giving the French Parliament the right to scrutinise the nomination 
of the Governor of the Banque de France by the President of the French Republic
3, including the 
right to veto, under certain conditions, a proposal for a nomination. 
1.3 In accordance with Article 13 of the French Constitution, the draft law complements the draft 
organic law and determines for each of the concer ned positions or functions the relevant permanent 
committees within the French Nati onal Assembly and Senate. For th e function of Governor of the 
Banque de France, the committee competent in mone tary matters would be the relevant permanent 
committee within each House of  the French Parliament. 
 2. General observations 2.1 The provisions of the draft organic law and the draft law that concern the nomination procedure of 
the Governor of the Banque de France are comp atible with the Treaty and the Statute of the 
European System of Central Banks and of the Euro pean Central Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute of 
the ESCB’) and do not interfere with the personal independence requirements under Article 14.2 of 
the Statute of the ESCB. 
2.2 The inclusion of the Governor of the Banque de France in the list of holders of positions and 
functions concerned may result in an extensi on of the length of the nomination procedure
4. In this 
regard, the ECB notes the need for the smooth and continuous functioning of the decision-making bodies of the Banque de France
5 under the new nomination procedure. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 24 September 2009. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
3  Article L.142-8, seventh para graph, first sentence, of the French Mone tary and Financial Code provides that the 
Governor and the two Deputy Governors of Banque de France ar e nominated by a decree in the Council of Ministers for 
a six-year term of office, which may be renewed once. 
4  See impact assessment of the draft or ganic law and draft law on the application of  Article 13 of the French Constitution, 
p. 4, point 3.2. 
5  ECB Convergence Report, May 2008, p. 14.