French politics is hard to grasp if you reside outside this beautiful country. It’s still hard to grasp after living in Paris for five years. Therefore, I wasn’t surprised during my vacation at home this summer that Austrians know about the possibility of swimming in the Seine with a huge orange buoy, but have never heard about François Bayrou. This French Franz was our Prime Minister from January to the beginning of September, when he lost an unwinnable vote of confidence – a vote he himself had initiated. Unwinnable because he wanted to remove two public holidays next year to reduce the budget deficit. Unwinnable because he is rather close to Macron and many citizens despise the president. Unwinnable because voting to maintain him in power would have meant approving his budget cuts. Hence, Monsieur Bayrou was voted out just when I came back from Austria and since then, chaos.
To understand this chaos, let’s take a trip back in time.
Since the legislative elections of 2022, there has been no absolute majority in the French National Assembly. This is the first time in French history; a fact that is almost unbelievable for someone like me, coming from a country where coalitions are the only way to power.
I remember vividly that on the day after that election in June 2022, the leader of the conservative right-wing party came out, stating they would play opposition and block all policies proposed by a potential government. Not a single minute was spent negotiating or even talking, just a straight refusal of collaboration. Other party leaders made similar announcements, but since the president can singlehandedly name a prime minister who can then pick his government ministers like on FIFA Ultimate Team, no negotiation ever takes place anyway. No surprise that passing laws and budgets has been a nightmare since then.
A nightmarish example is the famous retirement reform which was passed through the legislative process using brute force in early 2023. Article 49.3 of the French Constitution allows the president to reduce the parliamentary debate to a simple “accept my budget law or remove the government”. Since not enough deputies voted for removal, the retirement age was raised from 62 to 64, people took to the streets and political parties got even angrier at each other. In the weeks before, parliamentary debate to adjust the reform towards a compromise was blocked by issuance of an exorbitant number of amendments, reminding me of the filibuster and other sad legislative loopholes.
Over two years later, cancelling this retirement reform is still a major project for several parties, with voices getting louder in recent weeks.
Before we arrive at today, we still need to cover the surprise of June 2024, when new legislative elections were called by the president and took place 21 days later. Unsurprisingly, the National Assembly has been even more fractured since then, it took two months to find a prime Minister who lasted four months, no budget compromise was found, and this is how we got the French Franz and his ultimate team.
At the end of summer 2025, the fever dream accelerates. On September 9, Macron names Sébastien Lecornu as the new Prime Minister. He takes until October 6 to choose his ministers. Several political actors go crazy on Twitter, Sébastien calls it a day… the next morning. Macron tells him to try again. Now, Sébastien is Prime Minister again, looking for a new all-star team that will do better. Meanwhile, I’m wondering how they don’t understand the absurdity.
This is the current chaos of French politics. People blame it on Macron for only naming prime ministers from his own political family. People blame it on the “self-proclaimed” political center for collaborating with the far right. People blame it on the right for holding on to power “illegitimately”. People blame it on the left for taking on “extreme” positions. People blame it even more on Macron, saying he should leave or rather “fuck off” as written on many posters at my university.
I’m just wondering what the French expect. Why would a new presidential election make things any better? How could another legislative election yield a less fractured parliament? There is no polling evidence about absolute majorities, on the contrary. To be very honest with my French rebel friends, there may never be such a majority again. Just like there may never again be a president who is not hated by a significant portion of French citizens. This whole chaos started with the lack of uncontested legislative power that had made the country work for decades. Maybe it started even before, with the very design of this constitution, which seemingly attracts the lack of legislative compromise. Or maybe it’s about this culture of being against before anything else.
When I see party leaders declare their opposition before negotiating, when I see political factions reject a candidate for prime minister because they’re too Macron-compatible, when I see the far right use their votes only to show off their political weight, when I hear people around me being against and even more against – it makes me doubt the human capability of finding compromises. Being against is sometimes necessary, but when used systematically, it is destructive. And I doubt that all political forces are eager to destroy the Fifth Republic. So maybe it’s time to try talking, finding common ground, and potentially building a new system that allows for constructive democratic dialogue.
