The imperative military programming law: towards a masked coup?
The imperative military programming law: towards a masked coup?France Evening - Jul 06, 2023
Would the imperative LPM be the last mask of a coup d'etat?
The summer months or the period between Christmas and New Year's Day are times of relaxation for most of the population, the controversies and oppositions suddenly disappear like snow melting in the sun. We must therefore be wary of the laws passed at these times which are opportune for governments to discreetly pass projects. The conflagration of the suburbs which frightens citizens and politicians has the ideal characteristics to pass texts of a liberticidal nature. Under cover of an increased demand for security for fear of a general conflagration, certain draconian texts can easily be voted on discreetly. What does the new military programming law hide?
An unusual procedure
The new military programming law (LPM) 2024-2030 currently under discussion includes surprising and worrying provisions in terms of requisitions, deeply prejudicial to public freedoms left to the discretion of the executive, provisions which are starting to cause reactions here and there.
The LPM is an exercise that has been repeated every five years since the end of the 1990s, which saw the suspension of national military service and the establishment of the professional army. The programming laws, provided for in article 34 of the 1958 Constitution, “determine the objectives of State action”. Unlike ordinary laws or organic laws, programming laws normally have no effect other than indicative. The LPM is therefore not intended by the Constitution to be an imperative law, it is not intended to set in stone permanent provisions. Essentially a budget forecasting tool, the LPM, in its findings and forecasts, intends to provide medium-term visibility to allow the preparation and voting of annual finance laws and, consequently, to provide the armies with the means necessary to fulfill their mission.
The specificity of the LPM is moreover to be rarely respected in practice, always to the detriment of the armies.
The current Bill relating to military programming for the years 2024 to 2030 and containing various provisions relating to defence, includes, in application of the second part of its title, legislative riders modifying in a profound and permanent manner the Defense Code by tackling public freedoms head-on.
