French order of precedence

The French order of precedence is a symbolic hierarchy of officials in the Government of France used to direct protocol.

The current order of precedence was established by presidential decree number 89-655 of September 13, 1989.

1. The President of the Republic (Nicolas Sarkozy)
2. The Prime Minister (François Fillon)
3. The President of the Senate (Jean-Pierre Bel)
4. The President of the National Assembly (Bernard Accoyer)
5. Former Presidents of the Republic, in order of term
   1. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
   2. Jacques Chirac
6. The Government (Ministers forming the Government), in the order decided by the President of the Republic
   1. Jean-Louis Borloo
   2. Bernard Kouchner
   3. Brice Hortefeux
   4. Rachida Dati
   5. Michel Barnier
   6. Patrick Devedjian
   7. Xavier Darcos
   8. Valérie Pécresse
   9. Hervé Morin
   10. Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin
   11. Christine Boutin
   12. Christine Albanel
   13. Éric Woerth
   14. Éric Besson
   15. Roger Karoutchi
   16. Bruno Le Maire
   17. Laurent Wauquiez
   18. Luc Chatel
   19. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet
   20. Valérie Létard
   21. Dominique Bussereau
   22. Chantal Jouanno
   23. André Santini
   24. Jean-Marie Bockel
   25. Hervé Novelli
   26. Fadela Amara
   27. Alain Marleix
   28. Rama Yade
   29. Bernard Laporte
   30. Christian Blanc
   31. Hubert Falco
   32. Anne-Marie Idrac
   33. Yves Jego
   34. Alain Joyandet
   35. Nadine Morano
   36. Martin Hirsch
7. Former Prime Ministers, in order of term
   1. Pierre Mauroy
   2. Laurent Fabius
   3. Michel Rocard
   4. Édith Cresson
   5. Édouard Balladur
   6. Alain Juppé
   7. Lionel Jospin
   8. Jean-Pierre Raffarin
   9. Dominique de Villepin
8. The President of the Constitutional Council (Jean-Louis Debré)
9. The Vice President of the Conseil d'État (Jean-Marc Sauvé)
10. The President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Jacques Dermagne)
11. Members of the National Assembly
12. Senators
13. 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)
14. The first President of the Revenue Court (Cour des Comptes) (Didier Migaud) and the public prosecutor of that court
15. The Great Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur, chancellor of the National Order of Merit (Jean-Pierre Kelche) and the members of the councils of these orders
16. The Chancellor of the Order of the Libération (François Jacob), and the members of the council of this order
17. The Chief of the Defence Staff (Jean-Louis Georgelin)
18. The Ombudsman (Médiateur) of the Republic (Jean-Paul Delevoye)

The following then apply in Paris

1. The prefect of the Île-de-France région, prefect of Paris (Daniel Canepa)
2. The prefect of police, prefect of the Paris defense zone (Michel Gaudin)
3. The mayor of Paris, president of the Council of Paris (Bertrand Delanoë)
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; the first president of the Paris court of appeal and the general public prosecutor of that court
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
10. The president of the national commission "computing and freedoms" (CNIL)
11. The president of the concurrence council
12. universities of Paris