France: a constitutional crisis in the making
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2023
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The USA, the UK and France, which have led the democratic world, are all suffering problems with their constitutions. But the problem is most acute in France, where President Macron has lost his parliamentary majority, and forced his pension reforms through by decree. But worse is to come; Macron can only serve as President until 2027 and will leave a vacuum at the heart of French politics when he steps down. And unlike Charles de Gaulle, he doesn’t seem likely to leave an enduring movement or an obvious successor. He hoovered up centrist support when he swept to power, and his main rivals now are either far-left or far-right. They both are populists, anti-NATO and pro-Putin. Edward Stourton explores if France is heading towards a constitutional crisis and asks what political turmoil in our nearest neighbour might mean.
Presenter: Edward Stourton Producer: Jonathan IAnson Editor: Clare Fordham
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
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| 0:41.0 | Thank you for listening to this edition of Analysis, the podcast that looks at the ideas behind the news. |
| 0:47.0 | In this episode, Edward Sturton explores if France is heading towards a constitutional crisis and ask what political turmoil in our nearest |
| 0:55.4 | neighbour might mean. |
| 0:56.4 | The Constitution, each one one the Cé, to create a change of my profound. |
| 1:00.9 | The election of the President in the Republic of the University of the direct. |
| 1:04.0 | Emmanuel Macron, the French President, marked the 65th birthday of his country's 5th |
| 1:09.8 | republic this October, with a speech praising the stability it's brought to France. |
| 1:15.0 | It's lasted longer than almost any other system of government since the French Revolution. |
| 1:20.0 | France's Interior Minister says 45,000 police officers have been deployed |
| 1:26.4 | across the country this evening to try to prevent a fourth night of violence. |
| 1:31.8 | But the anniversary is being celebrated amidst repeated eruptions of violent protest, |
| 1:37.0 | and many of those who've come out onto the streets |
| 1:40.0 | direct their Many in France now argue that their sense of a national malays is down to the Constitution |
... |
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