Ordre national du Mérite

Ordre National du Mérite

Insignia of a Knight of the Ordre national du Mérite
Awarded by  France
Type Order with five degrees:
Grand'croix (grand cross)
Grand officier (grand officer)
Commandeur (commander)
Officier (officer)
Chevalier (knight)
Awarded for Distinguished civil and military achievements
Status Active
Statistics
Established 3 December 1963
Distinct
recipients
Knights 151,900
Officers 31,807
Commanders 5,269
Grand Officers 313
Grand Cross 142.
Precedence
Next (higher) Médaille militaire
Next (lower) Croix de guerre

Grand'croix

Grand Officier

Commandeur

Officier

Chevalier
Ribbon bars of the order

The Ordre national du Mérite (National Order of Merit) is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason of the Order’s establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ministerial Orders previously awarded by the ministries; and to create an award that can be awarded at a lower level than the Legion of Honour.

French nationals as well as nationals of foreign countries, men and women, can be received into the Order, for distinguished civil and military achievements, though of a lesser level than that required for the conferment of the Legion of Honour. The President of the French Republic is the Grand Master of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order, by convention, on the advice of the Government. The Order has a common Chancellor and Chancery with the Legion of Honour. Every Prime Minister of France is made a grand cross of the order after six months of service.

Contents

Grades

The Order has five classes, the same as the Légion d’honneur:

Insignia

The medal and the plaque of the Order were designed by the French sculptor Max Leognany.

Deprecated orders

With the 1963 creation of the order of Merit, sixteen orders were discontinued. Extant members of those orders may continue to display their decorations.

Colonial orders
Special orders of merit

See also

References

This article incorporates information from the revision as of February 2009 of the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.