Emmanuel Macron has something in common with François Hollande. He is the only president of the Fifth Republic not to have left his mark on the Constitution. He would like to remedy this. On Wednesday, he must announce to the Constitutional Council his tracks of reform, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the fundamental law. Which is illustrated by its stability, to the point of having already exceeded the legal retirement age... "It is the policy of the long term that succeeds," enthused at the Élysée. The speech of the head of state before the Sages "promises to be particularly important," says his entourage, warning: "The Constitution is not fixed and neither is the president on these subjects." However, there is no question of engaging in any "adventurism" whatsoever. It is necessary to preserve the "spirit" of the text, warns his cabinet.
The tenant of the Élysée has already revealed a large part of his intentions. Registration of abortion, extension of the referendum to "social issues", mention of Corsica with a statute of autonomy, thawing of the electorate in New Caledonia... The tracks are already numerous. And their translation into the Constitution uncertain: an agreement between the National Assembly and the Senate on an identical text is necessary, before its adoption by three-fifths of Parliament or by a referendum. Hence the need to "find a way to federate political forces beyond the usual cleavages," admits the Elysee.
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New summit
In 2018, the operation failed. The Benalla affair interrupted consideration of the reform in the Assembly, but the Senate's reluctance dissuaded the executive from putting it back on the agenda. Reduction in the number of parliamentarians, proportional to legislative elections, reform of the Superior Council of the Judiciary: the planned provisions had been buried. To succeed in his enterprise five years later, the head of state plans a new summit with party leaders at the end of October, two months after the meeting in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). In his debriefing letter, he pledged to "build the most ambitious and clear proposal possible."
Since the beginning of the year, he has also received his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, and let his "institutions" adviser, Eric Thiers, work. Called upon to draw inspiration from it, the senior official is to receive 130 proposals from the Reflection Group on the Evolution of the Constitution and Institutions (Gréci). "Institutions are not Emmanuel Macron's cup of tea," reports one of his relatives. But he knows it's inevitable."