List of presidents of the Senate of France

President of the French Senate
Président du Sénat français (French)
Logo of the French Senate
since 1 October 2014
Senate of France
TypePresiding officer
Member ofFrench Parliament
ResidencePetit Luxembourg
Term length3 years,
renewable
Formation28 October 1795
First holderClaude-Antoine Rudel
Succession1st
WebsiteOfficial website

This article lists the presidents of the Senate of France (French: Président du Sénat français; official translation: Speaker of the Senate)[1] and assimilated chambers.

The Senate is the upper house of the French Parliament. It is presided over by a president. Although there had been Senates in both the First and Second Empires, these had not technically been legislative bodies, but rather advisory bodies on the model of the Roman Senate. France's first experience with an upper house was under the Directory from 1795 to 1799, when the Council of Ancients was the upper chamber. With the Restoration in 1814, a new Chamber of Peers was created, on the model of the British House of Lords. At first it contained hereditary peers, but following the July Revolution of 1830, it became a body to which one was appointed for life. The Second Republic returned to a unicameral system after 1848, but soon after the establishment of the Second Empire in 1852, a Senate was established as the upper chamber. In the Fourth Republic, the Senate was renamed the Council of the Republic, but its function was largely the same. With the new constitution of the Fifth Republic in 1959, the older name of Senate was restored.

  1. ^ "The Speaker of the Senate". senat.fr. Senate (France). Retrieved 15 July 2022.