THE EDITORIAL BY RAPHAËL LEGENDRE. The Fifth Republic is a text designed for the majority and which today finds itself in difficulty in the face of an Assembly where there are only minorities. Should it be changed?
The Constitution of the Fifth Republic has allowed us to get through many crises since 1958, but today, it is perhaps what is also blocking us. In any case, the debate is mounting while the state machine seems to be seized up, impossible to move forward. So should we change it?
The question to ask is who is to blame if the system malfunctions? Who is responsible for the mess in the Assembly? The Constitution? Or the men and women who sit in the national representation?
For years, we heard parliamentarians complaining that they were just a recording chamber, that MPs were sloppy MPs. That the Senate was of no use.
An unprecedented phenomenon under the Fifth, the tripartition offers precisely the possibility for Parliament to regain control of the government by seeking coalitions, majorities to act for the Republic. As is done everywhere else in Europe.
“What Parliament lacks is not powers, but rather parliamentarians to exercise them,” said Guy Carcassonne.
And what did we see during this budget debate? An irresponsible use of fiscal leverage, tens of billions in taxes as if it were raining and groups that are struggling with the municipal elections of 2026 and the presidential elections of 2027 as their only horizon… Sad spectacle.
Is the Constitution responsible for the inconsistency of our elected officials? I don't think so.
Changing mentalities before texts
This does not mean that nothing should be changed. The text can be improved, amended, modernized, as in 2008 with the introduction of priority questions of constitutionality for example. We could add a dose of democracy, for example by relaxing the conditions for implementing the shared initiative referendum (RIP), as Emmanuel Macron thought about a year ago.
But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. The Third gave full powers to Pétain. Under the 4th century, the life expectancy of governments fluctuated between one day and a few months. It's fortunate to have a text that has been working for 66 years.
Is it time to change it? Certainly not in the middle of a crisis. Perhaps what we need to start changing are mentalities; the culture and bad habits adopted in the Assembly.
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