Can French ministers ban activist groups?
As France's interior minister calls for the dissolution of a Catholic group after video emerged of extreme anti-Semitic views, we take a look at what powers French ministers have to disband activist groups.
In recent days, two organisations in France - from opposite ends of the political spectrum - have come into the headlines after the Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, called for the dissolution.
On Monday Darmanin moved to dismantle the far-right, traditional Catholic party Civitas because of its anti-Semitism - after video emerged of a meeting in which the speaker suggested that Jews should not be allowed French citizenship.
On Tuesday, the left-wing environmentalist group, Soulèvements de la Terre (Uprisings of the Earth), was set to appear in front of France's Conseil d'Etat to appeal Darmanin's decision to dissolve the group in March, citing this grouping incites sabotage and damage to property, including through violence".
So what powers do French interior ministers have to ban groups? And why are these actions getting more common in recent years?
Dissolution laws
There are several ways an association can be dissolved in France: groups can be disbanded by a voluntary vote, at the conclusion of a statute with a fixed end-date, or by the courts following an investigation by a public prosecutor.
However, the most high-profile is an 'administrative dissolution', which is done by a decree from the Council of Ministers.
This has been allowed in French law since 1936, when an article was added to the country's Internal Security Code to limit the proliferation of combat groups and private militias during the inter-war period.
The history
Since 1936, more than 100 groups and associations have been dissolved in France.
Charles de Gaulle takes the prize for the president who enacted the highest number of orders - he saw 48 organisations dismantled during his 12 years in power, which spanned the ending of World War II, decolonisation and the Algerian war.
After De Gaulle, Emmanuel Macron falls in second place, having overseen the dissolution of 33 groups since he took office in 2017.
In comparison, Macron's two predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012) and François Hollande (2012-2017) together saw just 12 organisations dismantled.
Macron's current interior minister Gérald Darmanin, who took up the role in July 2020, has put forward over 20 dissolution-by-decree requests to the Council of Ministers, according to French magazine Marianne.
What are the criteria for dissolution?
The procedures for dismantling a group via the 'administrative' process were first put forward in the 1936 law, and later expanded in 2021 the passage of the 'Separatism Law' - allowing more leeway for individual group members' actions to be taken into account when making a decison.
In order to be dismantled by decree, the Council of Ministers must find that the organisation either provoked armed demonstrations in the public space, had the character of a combat group or private militia, incited discrimination, hatred or violence against a person or group of people because of their origins, ethnic group, nation, race or religion.
A group that engaged in actions on French territory with the goal of provoking acts of terrorism in France or abroad can also be dissolved.
Groups can also be dismantled or suspended from activity for a period of up to 12 months if members are found to have committed any of the following offences during a protest:
- Damage to property
- Violence against persons
- Inciting hatred or discrimination against people on the grounds of their origins, sexual orientation or gender identity, sex, or their actual or assumed membership in a particular ethnic group, nation, race or religion.
Right of appeal
Once dissolved, the organisation can appeal to the Conseil d'État, the government body whose role is to advise on new laws and decrees and to act as an arbitrator in disputes between the government and members of the public, or even wuth the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What is France's State Council?
However, based on Franceinfo's calculations, only nine of the 162 associations or groups that have been banned since 1936 have actually succeeded in obtaining a suspension or annulment.
If the dissolution is maintained, then group members are not allowed to maintain the association. They are also not allowed to simply create a new organisation with the same goals. Breaking these rules can lead to three years in prison and a €45,000 fine.
High profile groups
Far-right groups have often been the focus of disbandment in recent years - in 2013, after the killing of a young anti-fascist activist, Clément Méric, the French state sought to dissolve three far-right groups. Two of the groups were dissolved, but one, Envie de rêver, won its appeal with the Conseil d'État.
More recently, Darmanin pushed for the dissolution of ultra-right, anti-migrant groups Zouaves Paris and Génération identitaire, the latter having gathered at the Col du Portillon pass on the border of France and Spain in what they called a surveillance operation to "defend Europe".
L’association « Génération identitaire » a été dissoute ce matin en conseil des ministres, conformément aux instructions du Président de la République.
Comme le détaille le décret que j’ai présenté, elle incite à la discrimination, la haine et la violence. A lire 👇 pic.twitter.com/tfcQVC8AjX
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) March 3, 2021
Groups suspected of Islamism have also been targeted. Following the murder of school teacher Samuel Paty, Darmanin announced that 51 groups with Islamic leanings would be investigated, eventually leading to the controversial dismantling of the NGO CCIF (Collectif contre l’islamophobie en France).
After the 2015 and 2016 terror attacks in France, there was wave of bans on Muslim associations accused of promoting terrorism, including the Association of Muslims in Lagny-sur-Marne (eastern suburbs of Paris).
Left-wing groups have been targeted too - such as the 2022 dissolution of the anti-capitalist and anarchist group Le Bloc Lorrain, which claimed 200 members and had been involved in Yellow Vest protests. The Council of Ministers found it had 'legitimised violence'.
Criticism
Macron's government has been criticised by both right and left-wing politicians for bans, with many claiming that they have been used on political enemies.
Most recently, professor of political communications at Sciences Po, Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, told Marianne that Darmanin has specifically used dissolution procedures as a "means of communication".
"It allows him to act as a referee to decide what can and cannot be said", Chevrolet told Marianne.
However, political scientist and co-director of the Observatory of Political Radicalism, Jean-Yves Camus, told the magazine that the recent uptick in dissolution has to do with a rise in radical groups.
You can find the full Marianne article (in French) here.
READ MORE: Ask the experts: How much of a threat are violent far-right activists in France?
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In recent days, two organisations in France - from opposite ends of the political spectrum - have come into the headlines after the Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, called for the dissolution.
On Monday Darmanin moved to dismantle the far-right, traditional Catholic party Civitas because of its anti-Semitism - after video emerged of a meeting in which the speaker suggested that Jews should not be allowed French citizenship.
On Tuesday, the left-wing environmentalist group, Soulèvements de la Terre (Uprisings of the Earth), was set to appear in front of France's Conseil d'Etat to appeal Darmanin's decision to dissolve the group in March, citing this grouping incites sabotage and damage to property, including through violence".
So what powers do French interior ministers have to ban groups? And why are these actions getting more common in recent years?
Dissolution laws
There are several ways an association can be dissolved in France: groups can be disbanded by a voluntary vote, at the conclusion of a statute with a fixed end-date, or by the courts following an investigation by a public prosecutor.
However, the most high-profile is an 'administrative dissolution', which is done by a decree from the Council of Ministers.
This has been allowed in French law since 1936, when an article was added to the country's Internal Security Code to limit the proliferation of combat groups and private militias during the inter-war period.
The history
Since 1936, more than 100 groups and associations have been dissolved in France.
Charles de Gaulle takes the prize for the president who enacted the highest number of orders - he saw 48 organisations dismantled during his 12 years in power, which spanned the ending of World War II, decolonisation and the Algerian war.
After De Gaulle, Emmanuel Macron falls in second place, having overseen the dissolution of 33 groups since he took office in 2017.
In comparison, Macron's two predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012) and François Hollande (2012-2017) together saw just 12 organisations dismantled.
Macron's current interior minister Gérald Darmanin, who took up the role in July 2020, has put forward over 20 dissolution-by-decree requests to the Council of Ministers, according to French magazine Marianne.
What are the criteria for dissolution?
The procedures for dismantling a group via the 'administrative' process were first put forward in the 1936 law, and later expanded in 2021 the passage of the 'Separatism Law' - allowing more leeway for individual group members' actions to be taken into account when making a decison.
In order to be dismantled by decree, the Council of Ministers must find that the organisation either provoked armed demonstrations in the public space, had the character of a combat group or private militia, incited discrimination, hatred or violence against a person or group of people because of their origins, ethnic group, nation, race or religion.
A group that engaged in actions on French territory with the goal of provoking acts of terrorism in France or abroad can also be dissolved.
Groups can also be dismantled or suspended from activity for a period of up to 12 months if members are found to have committed any of the following offences during a protest:
- Damage to property
- Violence against persons
- Inciting hatred or discrimination against people on the grounds of their origins, sexual orientation or gender identity, sex, or their actual or assumed membership in a particular ethnic group, nation, race or religion.
Right of appeal
Once dissolved, the organisation can appeal to the Conseil d'État, the government body whose role is to advise on new laws and decrees and to act as an arbitrator in disputes between the government and members of the public, or even wuth the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What is France's State Council?
However, based on Franceinfo's calculations, only nine of the 162 associations or groups that have been banned since 1936 have actually succeeded in obtaining a suspension or annulment.
If the dissolution is maintained, then group members are not allowed to maintain the association. They are also not allowed to simply create a new organisation with the same goals. Breaking these rules can lead to three years in prison and a €45,000 fine.
High profile groups
Far-right groups have often been the focus of disbandment in recent years - in 2013, after the killing of a young anti-fascist activist, Clément Méric, the French state sought to dissolve three far-right groups. Two of the groups were dissolved, but one, Envie de rêver, won its appeal with the Conseil d'État.
More recently, Darmanin pushed for the dissolution of ultra-right, anti-migrant groups Zouaves Paris and Génération identitaire, the latter having gathered at the Col du Portillon pass on the border of France and Spain in what they called a surveillance operation to "defend Europe".
L’association « Génération identitaire » a été dissoute ce matin en conseil des ministres, conformément aux instructions du Président de la République.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) March 3, 2021
Comme le détaille le décret que j’ai présenté, elle incite à la discrimination, la haine et la violence. A lire 👇 pic.twitter.com/tfcQVC8AjX
Groups suspected of Islamism have also been targeted. Following the murder of school teacher Samuel Paty, Darmanin announced that 51 groups with Islamic leanings would be investigated, eventually leading to the controversial dismantling of the NGO CCIF (Collectif contre l’islamophobie en France).
After the 2015 and 2016 terror attacks in France, there was wave of bans on Muslim associations accused of promoting terrorism, including the Association of Muslims in Lagny-sur-Marne (eastern suburbs of Paris).
Left-wing groups have been targeted too - such as the 2022 dissolution of the anti-capitalist and anarchist group Le Bloc Lorrain, which claimed 200 members and had been involved in Yellow Vest protests. The Council of Ministers found it had 'legitimised violence'.
Criticism
Macron's government has been criticised by both right and left-wing politicians for bans, with many claiming that they have been used on political enemies.
Most recently, professor of political communications at Sciences Po, Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, told Marianne that Darmanin has specifically used dissolution procedures as a "means of communication".
"It allows him to act as a referee to decide what can and cannot be said", Chevrolet told Marianne.
However, political scientist and co-director of the Observatory of Political Radicalism, Jean-Yves Camus, told the magazine that the recent uptick in dissolution has to do with a rise in radical groups.
You can find the full Marianne article (in French) here.
READ MORE: Ask the experts: How much of a threat are violent far-right activists in France?
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