France ‘needs to copy AMERICA’ — Hollande demands change to avoid ‘HYPER-PRESIDENCY’

“I think we need to cut the Gordian knot and go all the way … and by this I mean that the president of the Republic should be the one true head of the executive. This means no more prime minister and greater accountability to parliament,” he told the TV channel Public Sénat. 

Calling for a “modernised” Republic, Mr Hollande said that France’s parliament should have similar powers to those bestowed upon the United States Congress. 

“We need a parliament modelled on – and with similar powers to – America’s Congress,” he said, adding that it was the only way to “avoid a hyper-presidency”. 

France’s former and current hyper-presidencies, he warned, are the direct result of a “too weak” parliament.  We need a parliament modelled on – and with similar powers to – America’s Congress François Hollande Government critics have repeatedly accused France’s conservative prime minister, Edouard Philippe, of being Mr Macron’s puppet. 

They have in turn accused Mr Macron of overstepping his powers by constantly upstaging Mr Philippe and refusing to loosen his grip on government. 

Mr Macron, for his part, remains determined to pursue his ambitious reform plans in spite of polls showing him losing support among voters.  

Up next on his agenda is a controversial plan to revamp the country’s constitution, which will include cutting the number of lawmakers by a third and introducing an unaccustomed dose of proportional representation.  

The 40-year-old centrist also wants to amend the text so that lawmakers can debate with the president during joint sessions of parliament.  In a speech to mark the 60th anniversary of the French Constitution at the Constitutional Council in Paris on Thursday, Mr Macron said the reform would “oxygenate” French political life and respond to the escalating “crisis of trust” between voters and the political elite. 

The constitutional reform will help build a more “representative, responsible and efficient” democracy, he added. 

Asked whether the current constitution gave the French president “too much power,” Mr Macron said: “No, I don’t think so”. 

Mr Macron’s distant, top-down leadership style has earned him the nickname of “hyper president,” a label reinforced by his pledge to embody a “Jupiterian” vision of the presidency – whereby the president, very much like the Roman god of gods, speaks rarely except to issue orders.