Decentralize some powers, give Corsica some “autonomy” and expand the themes. facilitate the conditions for holding referendums. French President Emmanuel Macron this Wednesday proposed a reform of the French Constitution that would address these problems. He benefited from the commemoration event V 65th anniversary of the Republic He will detail the project to replace Magna Carta. Given the lack of a majority in the National Assembly and the Senate, this reform will not be easy to complete; just as there was a failed attempt at constitutional retouching in his first term.
“I do not believe in the interest of France, nor in the consistency of its history, to change the republic,” Macron said at a morning event at the Paris headquarters of the Constitutional Council, the French equivalent of the Constitutional Court. . “According to me Our Constitution deserves to be changed “When this is necessary, it always comes down to two imperatives: being consistent and harmonious,” he added.
The Fifth Republic is on its way to becoming the longest-lasting republican regime in the neighboring country. Although it is long-lived, presidential, vertical and centralist model shows signs of fatigue. The last paradigmatic example of this was the major debate in the first half of the year over the approval of the pension reform, which (according to polls) was rejected by almost 70% of the population and was eventually adopted without a vote in Parliament. . Faced with this political crisis, the parties of the left-wing coalition NUPES propose the development of a new Constitution and the adoption of a more horizontal, more parliamentary system in which referendums have greater weight.
specific changes
Instead, Macron is betting on a series of specific changes to the existing Magna Carta. The most relevant ones will influence the organization of the plebiscite. On the one hand, he wants a centrist leader reform article 11 and broadening the issues that can be held in a referendum beyond “public powers and economic, social and environmental policies.” Although Macron did not mention this in his speech this Wednesday, he expressed his desire to hold these meetings in September. immigration referendumsA change demanded by the Republicans (LR, right) and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (far right).
On the other hand, the intention Easing the conditions for holding citizen initiative referendums (RIPs), this seems like a nod to the left. This call for consultation currently requires the collection of nearly 5 million signatures and the support of a majority of Parliament and the Senate. Macron acknowledged that the framework was “very limited”.
The constitutional reform proposal also includes an amendment to New Caledonia, a specific mention of Corsica’s autonomy (announced in 2018 and reaffirmed last week), as well as inclusion of abortion rights and the fight against climate change. Instead, the president appears to have ruled out amending the article that limits the term of the presidency to two consecutive terms. Macron called this limitation “catastrophic stupidity” in controversial remarks he made at a meeting with the presidential coalition and opposition leaders at the end of August.
‘Democratic crisis’ in France
During his first term, Macron had demanded a similar reform of Magna Carta, mentioning Corsica or including environmental protection. But this promise has been in vain before Impossibility of gaining support of the SenateWith the majority of LR representatives.
In France, the upper house is elected by local representatives rather than by universal suffrage, giving the majority to the Republican right, the party with the largest local presence despite significant national decline. Macronism has now been added to this obstacle. nor does it have an absolute majority in the National Assemblysomething unusual for a presidential party in a neighboring country.
In order to reform the French Constitution, the text must be approved by the lower and upper houses alike. I also achieved this: support of two-thirds of deputies and senators. Macronist MP Gilles Le Gendre acknowledged that this institutional change was “very complicated at the moment”. “This reflection is part of the frame. democratic crisis. “We must create the conditions for common political will,” this representative added in his statements to the newspaper. Le Monde.
More and more segments of civil society, as well as left-wing parties, are calling for ambitious constitutional reform in the face of the obvious circumstances. Crisis of representation and political discontent He suffered from France, which, according to the master essayist Alain Duhamel, “has undoubtedly become a country of crises.” “Criticism of the Fifth Republic (…) has never been as justified as it is now,” argues digital political scientist Fabien Escalona Media section. Constitutionalist Dominique Rousseau spoke even more forcefully in a column this week in which he quoted the 19th-century intellectual Benjamin Constant: “Revolutions are inevitable when the agreement between institutions and ideas is destroyed.”