It was in 2018. One year, precisely, after the arrival of Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée.The scene takes place at the Palais de Chaillot, in Paris: the head of state has agreed to answer questions from two well-known journalists, the director of Mediapart, Edwy Plenel, and Jean-Jacques Bourdin, then Figure de RMC and BFMTV(1).Everything is there, the solemn hall, the view of the Eiffel Tower, the somewhat grandiloquent music, the serious faces.
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But especially the words.These words of two journalists who say so much about our strange relationship with the presidential figure.From our collective imagination around this "republican monarch", this French singularity.The president, we want it strong, but we are wary;We expect everything from him, but hopelessly.To the point of not knowing well: what are, by the way, his "real" powers?
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Let's put things flat.But before, let's listen to them, that evening.Bourdin, first.“Mr. President, many French people doubt you, your choices, lose patience."The time is a first assessment, in this five -year period that starts.An expression surprises."Where do you drive us?"", he asks.As if the fate of each Frenchman was in the hands of a single man, this 40-year-old president suddenly adorned with the costume of omnipotence.Edwy Plenel resumes, draws up an unhappy French list.“All criticize your way of deciding on their fate.Not just what you decide but the way you do it.»»
Funny moment, right?Two seasoned interviewers, fiercely attached to their freedom, seem to address like children to a paternal, imperial figure, who "would lead" the French people and "decide their fate", as if, in France, the head of the 'State could everything, decided everything, was indebted for everything.
En face, sous les ors de Chaillot, Emmanuel Macron se délecte. Et il en joue, de cette monarchie républicaine. Devant la caméra, on le voit s’amusant de la déférence des deux autres, sourire au coin des lèvres, calme olympien. Il avait prévenu : il serait « jupitérien », assumant, comme ses prédécesseurs, une pratique verticale du pouvoir. Et d’une certaine façon, depuis les débuts de la Veen 1958, nous l’acceptons, ce président singulier qui n’a d’équivalent nulle part.
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"To each presidential election, the French, a very political people, want to believe it again," remarks Thierry Pech, the director of the Think Tank Terra Nova, after a campaign where many candidates, from Zemmour to Mélenchon, haveHandle the allegory of the man - or the woman - Providential (Le)."Citizens," continues the essayist, "consider this moment as a rocking point that can change their lives.Knowing, at the same time, that it is a tale for children.And that the radicality of the promises will end up shattering on the test of reality.But then, beyond our imagination, what about it really?Powerful, helpless?What can our president really?
"In our regime, the president is powerful and has never ceased to be"
Denis Baranger, professor of public law
Il peut beaucoup, en réalité. Du moins si l’on se fie aux pouvoirs que lui confère la Constitution de la VeRépublique. Il nomme le premier ministre, dont « le gouvernement détermine et conduit la politique de la nation » ; il peut dissoudre l’Assemblée nationale, alors qu’il n’est pas responsable devant elle ; il peut également convoquer un référendum, donc faire trancher le peuple. Il est, enfin, le chef des armées, seul détenteur du « feu nucléaire ». "In our regime, the president is powerful and has never ceased to be", souligne Denis Baranger, professor of public law à l’université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas et directeur de l’Institut Michel-Villey (2). Il rappelle que le général de Gaulle voulait, dès l’origine de la Ve, façonner « un État solide reposant sur un exécutif solide », soit un président fort.
In 1958, his prerogatives were therefore extended.But 1962 counts.As soon as the head of state is elected directly by the French people, his power no longer lies only in his formal powers, but in unequaled political legitimacy."This is a major moment in the development of the country," confirms Denis Baranger."From there, adds Vincent Martigny, associate professor at Cevipof Sciences Po, the president takes the ascendancy on all other powers.»»
MPs, voting machines?
And a form of imbalance is installed.Outside the period of cohabitation, he will go crescendo, in particular because of the establishment of the five -year term, in 2000: with the concomitance of the polls, the legitimacy of the assembly stems from that of the president.The room for maneuver of the deputies is reduced as a sorrow.As for the Prime Minister, he became the obligatory of the tenant of the Élysée ... "his collinary room", will even say Nicolas Sarkozy.
Cécile Duflot, who, after a long political journey, directs Oxfam France, experienced this interior imbalance.She tells it today.First when she was an environmentalist deputy in Paris, in 2016. "I saw socialist deputies forced to put their convictions under the carpet, especially on the forfeiture of nationality.Some were crying by voting, yes!They did not have a gun on the temple, however.The Bataclan attacks have just tears France, François Hollande is convinced that a highly symbolic measure is necessary to appease minds.He is the majority of his majority to follow him.This time, however, the measure will not pass.
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Il n’empêche. Les frondeurs ? « Des élus indisciplinés ! Voilà tout ce qu’on nous disait, se désole l’ancienne élue. Mais alors, autant avoir des machines à voter, pas des êtres humains. » Le doigt sur la couture du pantalon. Le président est roi. Quelques années plus tard, François Hollande le reconnaîtra lui-même. Avec le quinquennat, « ce qui était présenté comme une modernisation de nos institutions s’est révélé une mutation profonde de notre régime », dira-t-il dans un livre d’entretiens (3). Une évolution qui a, selon lui, contribué « à abaisser un parlement dont la VeRépublique avait déjà considérablement limité les initiatives et rationalisé les procédures ».
Duflot acquiesce."In this system, the head of state concentrates all the powers, everything goes back to him."She also perceived the imbalance of another observation post, that of Minister of Housing, from 2012 to 2014." I remember a meeting at the Élysée, we had done a lot of work with theCaisse des Dépôts and Bercy on the renovation of buildings, she says.François Hollande wanted to see us, he was in a bad mood, obviously he had slept badly.He unzipped what we had done.And nobody has moved.We folded our files and we left.Because he was the president.»»
Tightness room
All-powerful, then?Well no, however.Because having many powers is not synonymous with the ability to act.Let's go back under François Hollande.This time, Michel Sapin, unbeatable minister of the five -year term, tells.This close to the ex-socialist president remembers their coming to power in 2012 after ten years on the right."Hope", but "worried hope (...) aware of the immensity of the difficulty (4)".Now a lawyer, he specifies: “The president's room for maneuver is extremely narrow.Admittedly, he can take strong symbolic measures: Mitterrand with the abolition of the death penalty, Holland, marriage for all, or Chirac, by recognizing the responsibility of Vichy in the deportation of the Jews.But for the rest, he continues, the constraints are very strong.»»
“The president can take strong symbolic measures.But for the rest, the constraints are very strong.»»
Michel Sapin, Minister of Labor by François Hollande
The economy is globalized, the meanders of the international market often unfathomable.Michel Sapin thus has a bitter memory of "the inversion of the unemployment curve", of which François Hollande had made a marker."We obtained it at the end of 2013, with the strength of the wrist: subsidized jobs, the generation contract, we put a lot of money.Arrives 2014, Annus Horribilis.Growth does not resume, unemployment has started upwards… ”inexorably.The blow is rough to take for the Minister of Labor.For his mentor too.
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Yes, but what happens with a more vertical practice, at the Macron?"Jupiter or not, the constraints are the same!""Ricks Michel Sapin.The economy remains indomitable and the commercial and monetary policy remains in Brussels.Despite everything, how many of our presidents have made "as if"?As if they had their hands and had levers of yesteryear.As if, at a time of globalization, one could still bet on industrial colbertism of the 1960s.
« Sous de Gaulle et Pompidou, avec le Plan et la haute administration, ça a magnifiquement marché, observe Thierry Pech. Mais c’est fini. Le contexte n’est plus le même, avec la montée en puissance de l’Union européenne et la décentralisation. Et pourtant, sous la Ve, les présidents continuent de s’accrocher au costume gaullien. »
A tattered costume.Or rather a postiche.Especially when "two swords of Damoclès threaten to fall at any time" on the presidential ambition, notes Édouard Philippe.In Matignon until 2020, the former Prime Minister of Emmanuel Macron experienced this double constraint, "financial debt and climate debt", between which public policies are making their way."By dint of postponing their treatment, we have lost control of our destiny", even goes so far as to write the current mayor of Le Havre, after three years spent on rue de Varenne (5)."Two addictions, two wills, two inheritances", with which the executive must compose.
In this regard, Édouard Philippe nuances the idea of a Prime Minister at the president's boot.Admittedly, he continues, "the president decides, but it is still very often the Prime Minister who signs down the sheet" and, according to him, "the president cannot much without hisPrime Minister (…).He can speak, make decisive political decisions, but he cannot, legally speaking, governing ”.
Large untamed bodies
"The dashboard is not at the Élysée, it is in Matignon.Budgets, administrative departments ... Technical power, ”comforts Thierry Pech."It is absolutely major," adds the essayist Alain Minc, who gives an illustration of it, showing that the president must sometimes trick.Macron did it, according to him, to impose "his" date of exit from confinement - which in theory was not his responsibility.“He disagreed with Philippe.The only way to impose your choice has been to make your decision by press release.He stuck his Prime Minister.»»
That's not all.The presidents also be wary of "the deep state", this high administration which, if not has the keys to the truck, at least that of the calendar."The" Deep State ", it exists," continues Alain Minc.The executive has in front of him a body which has a sense of general interest but also his own philosophy, his convictions;Take the Quai d'Orsay, there is a story, a culture ... Now, this body does not necessarily accept everything from its leader.Close to Nicolas Sarkozy, he remembers that in 2007, the latter had to get used to it."With his entrepreneurial temperament, convinced that everything is possible for anyone, he thought he was transmitting this energy to the Deep State and putting him in his hand," recalls Alain Minc.But that works for a month, not for five years.»»
And moreover: the administrative path, the time spent between a decision and its implementation or even the rules of the European Union, all these "inerties", which several candidates were quick to denounce during the campaign, arealso safeguards."We don't do what we want," says Michel Sapin about the European framework, "we have to comply with the budgetary discipline.But we gain a lot from being a member of the EU.Without Europe, the "whatever it costs", for example, would be unthinkable, "recalls the former Minister of Finance.Not to mention the diplomatic issues, whose war in Ukraine today recalls the complexity and the need to be united.
Hyperpresident?Hyper risky ...
Dès lors, si « entraves » il y a, elles sont ailleurs pour le chef de l’État. Bien plutôt dans l’usure de plus en plus rapide de son « capital » politique. « L’hyperprésident, notamment depuis Nicolas Sarkozy et François Hollande, devient un président faible », relève Denis Baranger, professor of public law et directeur de l’Institut Michel-Villey. Le constat d’un paradoxe, partagé par de nombreux juristes et politologues.
As if the centralization of powers, far from arming the arm of our president, resulted in his accelerated erosion."The Head of State has seen his powers increasing but also the risks attached to it," sums up Thierry Pech, at Terra Nova.All the criticisms focus on him, he is criticized for everything, almost bad weather when he starts to rain!Elected on Sunday, unpopular on Monday, to the point of not being able to carry out the promised policies.
"All criticisms focus on the president, he is criticized for everything, almost bad weather when he begins to rain!"»»
Thierry Pech, Terra Nova
"The pension reform, if you do not do it in the first six months, you can no longer do it," notes a familiar with the aisles of power.Thierry Pech evokes another example which, on paper, seemed consensual."The carbon tax is an almost perfect institutional process," he remembers the spark that ignited the yellow vests in 2018. It had the favors of state technocracy, experts, it hadcrossed all the stages without incident.And then… patatras.»»
The resistors are strong, in reality.And the executive, who does not have enough sociological base in society, "receives no warning ... and takes the social wall in full".To understand this, it is useful to take a look at the scores of the first towers of presidential elections: in the 1960s, de Gaulle and Pompidou had gathered 45 % of the votes.Then Giscard only 32 %, Mitterrand 26 % in 1981, Chirac 20 % in 1995, Sarkozy 31 %, Holland 28 % and, finally, Macron 24 %… In other words, the political majority does not reflect the sociological majority of the country.And the elected president is a minority, which the second round occult.How, then, establish your power?
Jean-Marc Sauvé, one of the finest analysts in our political life for having been, for more than eleven years, secretary general of the government (6), does not deny this wear and tear;But it brings a shade of weight."At the national level, this is a reality.But our world has changed deeply and the role of the president is now conceived in interaction with a globalized universe, prey to multiple upheavals."Now, in times of crisis, it takes" a captain "," an incarnation ", and the very real wear of the chief of the executive is - for a while - forget.
Incapacity
"Since Nicolas Sarkozy, how many planetary and systemic crises?" Use the senior official.In 2008, the financial crisis, in 2011, that of the euro, in 2015, the terrorist crisis, then the pandemic and now Ukraine ... So, certainly, we no longer expect the president that he "changes life”, As in 1981. But he led the country in these extremely troubled times, which is considerable.At the risk of getting used to certain legal tools-a state of emergency, ordinances, 49-3-which make it possible to circumvent Parliament and its collective debates.
Keep the rudder, the course.And the country in its cohesion.Not anything like power.In 2008, Alain Minc described a Sarkozy betting, in his speech in Toulon, on the psychological dimension of the financial crisis, ensuring that, "whatever happens, the state guarantee [has] the security and continuity of the systemFrench banking and financial ”.No one had intervened to notice that, "if this guarantee should play, the public power would be overwhelmed", writes Minc (7), but whatever, "the psychological battle was won".
A few years later, in a world put on the ground by the COVVI-19, Emmanuel Macron will also play an important role in the adoption of a particularly ambitious European recovery plan.And in the aftermath of the attacks, in 2015, we remember François Hollande embodying the composure of a country bruised by Islamist violence.
Yes, but after the crisis?We then returns to Boomerang the paradox of a hyperpresses too quickly, and too often, confined to helplessness.Which is not without effect or without cost, for our political system.Contemporary "princes", thus observes the academic Vincent Martigny, "contribute to fueling the ills of democracy"."By excessive personalization of their power", they promote, according to him, a "de-responsibility of citizens", the "vitrification of the opposition" and weaken counterpowers, whose role is however essential in a regime of freedom.
Perhaps it will then be necessary to question our desire as a chief.And arrest courage to invent a more collaborative democracy, more involving the country's living forces, starting with Parliament.There are many tracks to extract us from a deleterious "illusions-discounts" cycle.
But to read the last note of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation and Cevipof, one thing is certain.The French remain attached to the figure of the president and do not imagine him confined to the chrysanthemums.57 % say they want a head of state "very present and active in domestic policy";70 % want him to be close to them, "attentive to [their] daily reality"."The French want an omnipresent presidency", even conclude the researchers.We don't do it again!
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