Former President François Hollande pleads for the establishment of a "real presidential regime, with the abolition of the Prime Minister and increased powers for Parliament, sort of" Fifth Republic bis ", in his book" Responding to the democratic crisis " which will come out Wednesday.
"Who can deny the malaise that has settled in democracy?" Writes Francois Hollande in the preface of this book, short but dense, published by Fayard, which takes the form of a long dialogue with the think tank Terra Nova. "In order to cope, each president thought he could modernize our institutions" but all developments have not "really reduced the malaise in democracy," he says. He sees "two answers" to this crisis: an "institutional", another "policy". "Our institutions are less able to meet the aspirations of the French," he said in an interview with AFP. "The president has an exorbitant power", contrary to the assemblies whose "(executive) control capacities are reduced." The prime minister no longer protects for a long time the head of state, in which the French always see the responsible for everything ". "The quinquennium has a part of responsibility in this decomposition", also writes the former president, who proposes to extend by one year the duration of the presidential term, six years renewable once, and to reduce to four years that of parliamentarians .
"Parliament would see its role increased, especially in legislative and budgetary terms"
In an interview with the Parisian, published Monday on his website, François Hollande also proposes "to bring all local elections in a single mandate". These reforms can "give pace to democracy", and allow "citizens to be consulted in the course of the presidential term", he adds to the daily. With this reform, "the president no longer appoints a prime minister but a team of which he is the head" and, "on the other hand, since the government is no longer responsible to the National Assembly, the president loses his right of dissolution" . And Article 49.3, which allows bills to pass without a vote in Parliament, "is no longer necessary".
In exchange, "the Parliament would see its role increased, especially in terms of legislation and budget". Its power of investigation, evaluation and initiative would be broadened, the constraints on the right of amendment lifted and the legislative procedure lightened and shortened.
Another proposal is the possibility of an "exclusively parliamentary initiative referendum". These transformations, however, could not prevent a possible cohabitation between a president and a hostile assembly. "It would not be in the executive, argues François Hollande," but between the executive and the legislative, the conflict could then be resolved other than by the compromise ". "Reformed institutions as I propose would lead parties to regain an important place in the public debate," he said. "We must return to political families that raise hope," also said Mr. Holland, which is pronounced "against the proportional".