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. There were Senates in both the First and Second Empires (the former being known as the Sénat conservateur, the latter as the French Senate), but these were only nominally legislative bodies – technically they were not legislative, but rather advisory bodies on the model of the Roman Senate.

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 whose members were 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 replaced by the Council of the Republic, but its function was largely the same. With the new Constitution of the Fifth Republic which came into force on 4 October 1958, the older name of Senate was restored.

In 2011, the Socialist Party won control of the Senate for the first time since the foundation of the Fifth Republic. In 2014, the centre-right Gaullists and their allies won back the control of the Senate; they retained their majority in 2017.

Criticism

As an indirectly elected house, the Senate is often criticised by political parties such as La France Insoumise on the left and the National Rally on the right as not being sufficiently popularly representative. Although both La France Insoumise and the National Rally enjoy significant representation in the National Assembly, they are far less represented in the Senate, as they do not have a large number of local councillors affiliated with them, who in turn elect the senators.

The left has historically opposed the very existence of a second chamber, while the right has defended it; controversies over the Senate's role are revived from time to time. The common phrase "a senator's pace" (un train de sénateur) mocks the upper house's perceived slow rhythm and readiness to let new legislation die.