2023-06-19 20:02:20
Former President of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, in Paris, June 29, 2022. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
A clumsiness, unless an unconscious admission? From the interview he gave to Figaro Monday, June 19, Richard Ferrand, former President of the National Assembly, is trying to put an end to the controversy that he himself started. In the daily, this very close to Emmanuel Macron, who has remained silent since his defeat in the June 2022 legislative elections, says he regrets that the head of state cannot stand for re-election in 2027 and suggests that the Constitution should be reformed. “Personally, I regret anything that restricts the free expression of popular sovereignty”he defends, deploring the “presidential term limit” Who “corsets our public life”. “Let’s change all that, he calls for, by preserving bicameralism and the Constitutional Council, vigilant guardian of republican principles and public freedoms. »
It didn’t take much more for the opposition to suspect Emmanuel Macron of wanting to extend a decade of supreme power. “And why not restore the Empire with Macron I? Richard Ferrand, the face of the autocratic drift of Macronie”, accused the leader of the deputies La France insoumise, Mathilde Panot, on Twitter.
“Amend the Constitution to allow themselves to stay in power. The last two to have done so are called Xi Jinping and Vladimir Poutine… So this is Emmanuel Macron’s democratic plan? »wonders the senator Les Républicains, Alain Houpert.
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The President of the Republic is considering a vast institutional reform, but has never publicly mentioned the idea of retouching Article 6 of the Constitution, according to which the tenant of the Elysée “cannot serve more than two consecutive terms”. This therefore prevents the current head of state from running for a new term in 2027. In an interview at Pointin April 2022, Emmanuel Macron only evokes a return to the seven-year term, accompanied by a “democratic breathing » sent to me. “The question of returning to the seven-year term must be asked. We must establish a democratic breathing space at mid-term, with the legislative elections”repeats the leader of the Renaissance party Stéphane Séjourné, in Le Figaro, January 12.
“Unlike a despot…”
In law, the maneuver which would allow Emmanuel Macron to stand for re-election from 2027 exists, provided that it is voted identically by the two Chambers, then by a three-fifths majority of the votes cast by the Parliament meeting in Congress. “In the Constitution, you can do whatever you want. Nothing forbids it”believes Jean-Philippe Derosier, professor of public law, recalling that Turkish President Erdogan has just been re-elected to a third term, despite the limitation in the Turkish Constitution of 2017 to two successive terms.
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