2023-06-19 19:40:00
DISPATCH – In an interview he gave to Figaro on June 18, the former President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand created a stir by talking about … a third term. A burning idea that has been quietly making its way since the laborious re-election of Emmanuel Macron in April 2022.
If he has remained discreet since his defeat in the legislative elections, the President of the executive office of Renaissance has struck a blow in the lines of the Figaro, Sunday, June 18. In addition to the wallpaper library in front of which he proudly posed, it is above all his positions as to “the future of macronism” which have something to talk about. Is it regrettable that Emmanuel Macron cannot run for a third time? For Richard Ferrand, what is regrettable is “everything that restricts the free expression of popular sovereignty”. “Let’s change all that!”, He proclaims, before mentioning the thorny question of “the limitation of the presidential mandate in time”… This is where the shoe pinches.
Explicitly, he did not say that the Constitution had to be amended to allow a new election of Macron. Implicitly, it’s just like. In 2018, then general rapporteur of the constitutional bill aimed at reforming the institutions, he considered it “relevant” to allow the President of the Republic as well as parliamentarians to present themselves three times.
Unsurprisingly, the canvas caught fire: “Empire”, “autocracy”, “trial balloon”, political theories are going well. The idea is not new, and not so far-fetched as it sounds.
Changing the Constitution: fact or fiction?
Since 2008, the Constitution provides that “the President of the Republic is elected for five years by direct universal suffrage” and that “no one may serve more than two consecutive terms”. Changing it again seems complicated, given that this would require a referendum, or convincing three out of five parliamentarians without an absolute majority.
However, since his re-election in April 2022, at least one other line of thought has hinted at possible “extensions”.
Another scheme with the Council of State
In a December 2022 article, Release reported a scenario of “legal-political fiction”. Based on a decision of the Council of State for the Polynesian president, it would be possible to run for a third term if we consider that one of the first two has not been executed in its entirety.
It was the former Keeper of the Seals, Jean-Jacques Urvoas, who mentioned this possibility. Concretely, Emmanuel Macron would have to dissolve the National Assembly before the end of his term, lose the legislative elections and resign. Following this, the President of the Senate – in this case Gérard Larcher, would take over pending the next election. Considering that he has not fully executed his second term, Emmanuel Macron could run again.
On November 28, 2022, the great reporter for the Figaro Georges Malbrunot relayed on Twitter a similar analysis, from a “French intelligence service”: “In 2023, Macron will pass the pension reform by resorting to 49-3, then he will dissolve the Assembly. He would then resign, for lack of a majority. Which allows him to stand again in stride or in the next ballot.
willy-nilly, the 49-3 passed. What will be the next step in “the future of Macronism”?
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