French order of precedence

The order of precedence (French: ordre de préséance) for public ceremonies in France is established by Décret n°89-655 du 13 septembre 1989 relatif aux cérémonies publiques, préséances, honneurs civils et militaires (Decree no. 89–655 of 13 September 1989 relating to public ceremonies, precedence, and civil and military honours). The original oder has been modified since 1989, for example inserting the Defender of Rights after that office's 2011 creation.[1] As of 21 January 2021 the order is as follows:[2]

1. The President of the Republic (Emmanuel Macron)
2. The Prime Minister (Jean Castex)
3. The President of the Senate (Gérard Larcher)
4. The President of the National Assembly (Richard Ferrand)
5. Former Presidents of the Republic, in order of term
   1. Nicolas Sarkozy
   2. François Hollande
6. The Government, in the order decided by the President of the Republic (Castex Government)
7. Former Prime Ministers, in order of term
   1. Laurent Fabius
   2. Édith Cresson
   3. Édouard Balladur
   4. Alain Juppé
   5. Lionel Jospin
   6. Jean-Pierre Raffarin
   7. Dominique de Villepin
   8. François Fillon
   9. Jean-Marc Ayrault
   10. Manuel Valls
   11. Bernard Cazeneuve
   12. Édouard Philippe
8. The President of the Constitutional Council (Laurent Fabius, who ranks higher as former Prime Minister)
9. The Vice President of the Conseil d'État (Bruno Lasserre)
10. The President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Patrick Bernasconi)
11. The Defender of rights (Jacques Toubon)
12. Members of the National Assembly
13. Senators
14. European parliament members
15. The judicial authority represented by the first President of the Court of Cassation (Vincent Lamanda) and the public prosecutor of that court (Jean-Louis Nadal)
16. The first President of the Revenue Court (Cour des Comptes) (Didier Migaud) and the public prosecutor of that court
17. The Great Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur, chancellor of the National Order of Merit (Général Benoît Puga) and the members of the councils of these orders
18. The Chancellor of the Order of the Libération (Fred Moore), and the members of the council of this order
19. The Chief of the Defence Staff (Général François Lecointre)

The following then apply in Paris:[3]

1. The prefect of the Île-de-France région, prefect of Paris (Michel Delpuech)
2. The prefect of police, prefect of the Paris defense zone (Michel Delpuech)
3. The mayor of Paris, president of the Council of Paris (Anne Hidalgo)
4. The representatives to the European Parliament
5. The chancellor of the Institute of France, the perpetual secretaries of the French Academy, the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, the Academy of Sciences, of the Académie des beaux-arts and of the Academy of moral and political sciences
6. The general secretary of the government; the general secretary of national defence; the general secretary of the Ministry of foreign affairs
7. The president of the administrative court of appeal of Paris (Patrick Frydman); the first president of the Paris court of appeal (Jacques Degrandi) and the general public prosecutor of that court (François Falletti)
8. The general delegate for weaponry; the general secretary for administration of the Ministry of defence; the chief of staff of the army; the chief of staff of the navy; the chief of staff of the air force; the military governor of Paris, commanding the Île-de-France army region
9. The president of the high council of broadcasting (CSA) (Olivier Schrameck)
10. The president of the national commission "computing and freedoms" (CNIL) (Marie-Laure Denis)
11. The president of the concurrence council
12. Universities of Paris

There are analogous orderings for local officials at events in Metropolitan France outside Paris,[4] for Overseas France,[5] and on naval bases.[6] There are also provisions to allow subordinate to take the place of certain head officers, if absent.[7] For events organised by a public body other than the national government, the body's head ranks second after the representative of the State (President, prefect, or sub-prefect).[8]

References

• "Décret n°89-655 du 13 septembre 1989 relatif aux cérémonies publiques, préséances, honneurs civils et militaires". Légifrance (in French). Retrieved 21 January 2021.

1. "Décret n° 2011-542 du 19 mai 2011 modifiant le décret n° 89-655 du 13 septembre 1989 modifié relatif aux cérémonies publiques, préséances, honneurs civils et militaires". Légifrance. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
2. Décret n°89-655 Article 2, nos 1–19; Article 8
3. Décret n°89-655 Article 2, nos 20–40
4. Décret n°89-655 Articles 3, 8
5. Décret n°89-655 Articles 3–6, 8
6. Décret n°89-655 Article 12
7. Décret n°89-655 Articles 7, 9–11
8. Décret n°89-655 Articles 9