FRANCE: In France, it has been a frenzied fall. First, the government was toppled by an irate Parliament. President Emmanuel Macron, acting in haste, appointed his protégé Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister; he resigned less than a month later. Confusion followed.
Today, things are marginally calmer. Lecornu returned to the office he had so abruptly vacated, has restored a degree of stability by making concessions to rivals and may yet succeed in passing a budget.
But he is not out of the woods yet. Without a clear majority in the National Assembly, the government remains exposed to a motion of no confidence. That could force Macron to appoint another prime minister — or call snap legislative elections. Attention is already shifting to the 2027 presidential race and the increasingly plausible prospect of a far-right victory.
What happens next matters greatly. But France’s crisis is deeper than the fate of any one government or leader. More than a new prime minister or president, the country needs a new republic. Nearly 250 years into one of the world’s longest democratic experiments, France should rethink the institutional framework that governs its political life.
Many of France’s challenges are shared across Europe. The far right is on the rise, hostility toward immigration is growing, public services are under strain, and debt is mounting amid sluggish growth.
Trust in political elites is eroding, and faith in democracy is weakening. In France, however, these problems are magnified by the structure of the Fifth Republic, a highly centralized system that concentrates extraordinary power in the presidency.
Created in 1958 for Charles de Gaulle during the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic marked a sharp break from earlier parliamentary arrangements. It endowed presidents with sweeping authority: the power to dissolve the National Assembly, appoint prime ministers, submit referendums directly to voters and, in emergencies, rule by decree. Over time, the presidency has come to dominate political life, turning the head of state into a quasi-monarchical figure around whom the system revolves.
This concentration of power has always sat uneasily with France’s republican tradition. Today, it is especially ill-suited to the national mood. In the postwar decades, presidents generally enjoyed commanding parliamentary majorities. When voters turned against them, they delivered clear majorities to the opposition.
Over the past 20 years, that equilibrium has collapsed. Presidential approval ratings have plunged. Macron, like his predecessors, is nearing the end of his term deeply unpopular — yet still armed with immense constitutional power.
The result is a dangerous imbalance: a weakened presidency with outsized authority to shape the national agenda. A Sixth Republic, grounded in a new constitution crafted or ratified by citizens, could correct this distortion. Presidential power could be sharply curtailed, with France returning to a genuinely parliamentary system. Presidents would assume largely ceremonial roles, while executive authority would flow from Parliament.
Such a transformation could also make Parliament more representative. Introducing proportional representation, as used in countries like Germany and Spain, would allocate seats in line with parties’ shares of the vote. This would be a decisive shift from France’s two-round, winner-take-all system, which often leaves voters choosing the least objectionable option.
In France, constitutions are not treated as untouchable texts but as guiding frameworks that can evolve with society. Many now ask why the country should remain bound to a system designed for a war hero nearly 70 years ago, in an era when women had only just gained the vote, memories of occupation were fresh and the death penalty was still in place.
The main obstacle to reform is the political class itself. Centrists have little interest in challenging a system that has served them well under Macron. The far right hopes to wield presidential power rather than dismantle it.
Even the left, historically the fiercest critic of the Fifth Republic, has largely fallen silent. Although the New Popular Front called for a Sixth Republic during the last election, the issue has faded as the presidential race approaches. The pull of the Élysée Palace remains powerful.
At some point, that resistance may give way. Another government collapse, another deadlocked Parliament, or another president tempted to abuse executive authority could make reform unavoidable.
As France’s political paralysis deepens, the idea of a Sixth Republic may cease to seem utopian and instead emerge as the only credible way out of crisis.
The New York Times