euro|topics - Constitutional reform in France

20/08/2008

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Main focus of Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Constitutional reform in France

The French parliament has adopted a far-reaching constitutional reform. The new provisions, which were voted on at a session in the Palace of Versailles yesterday, give more power to the president as well as to the parliament. What do the constitutional changes mean for the future of the "Grande Nation"?

Polityka - Poland

Under the constitutional reform the French president now has the right to deliver a kind of "state of the nation" speech before the two chambers of parliament. The liberal news magazine Polityka thinks this will strengthen the president to such an extent that the office of prime minister could become redundant. "The appearance of the president before the Congress is a great innovation. It raises his status and even gives him a royal privilege, for the president [is able] to state his views and ... leave the hall. The discussion then takes place in his absence. ... It may quickly become apparent that in a system of this kind the prime minister is superfluous if the president himself wishes to lead the work of government. For this reason these changes are a simple way of introducing a new political system in France. Following the constitutional changes the scales have tipped clearly in favour of the presidential powers. Gradually a transition to a VI Republic with a purely presidential system and without a prime minister is starting to look ever more likely. It is not for nothing that Nicolas Sarkozy calls the USA his model." (23/07/2008)

Berliner Zeitung - Germany

According to the Berliner Zeitung the French constitutional reform puts more power in the hands of the people. "France ... is daring to reinforce parliamentary democracy - although it is only at second glance that it becomes apparent how daring this move really is. At first glance the changes to the Fifth Republic undertaken by the parliamentarians and the senators at President Nicolas Sarkozy's behest do not come across as particularly daring. The representatives of the people may have reformulated almost every second article in the constitution on Monday evening at Versailles ... but on the face of it the changes, some of which were the subject of fierce debate, are less than spectacular. ... They are just provisions like those to be found in the constitutions of many other European states. It is only when you look at them against the backdrop of French history that they take on the dimensions of a bold reform. ... Until now the country's constitution, penned by Charles de Gaulle, was marked by a deep distrust of the people and their representatives. In the eyes of not a few neo-Gaullists ... Sarkozy has [thus] precipitated a reversion to the unstable times of old." (23/07/2008)

Le Monde - France

Four Socialist MPs criticise their party's rejection of the constitutional reform in the daily Le Monde: "The adoption of the constitutional reform makes the strategy of the Socialist Party questionable. For ultimately it was not in a position to prevent or amend this reform. ... In fact the reform is intended to increase the power of the parliament and give citizens new rights ... The Socialist Party must question its strategy as an opposition party. Its disqualification comes from its inability to free itself from a kind of Pavlovian anti-Sarkozy reflex that makes it reject any project proposed by the president as a matter of course. This attitude is dangerous. ... It alienates the party from the French people, who no longer want to listen to a party that has become a caricature of an opposition." (22/07/2008)

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, July 23, 2008

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