No veto power. The French president's power rests on what the Romans called auctoritas, and Macron hasn't much left. His role would be more or less that of the German federal president.WeepingElf wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2024 5:21 am I don't know much about the French constitution, but does the President have the power to veto acts of the National Assembly? If yes, Macron may be able to stop the worst abuses, and thereby force the RN into compromises. Perhaps it won't result in anything worse than the Meloni government in Italy (which is pretty bad but not as bad as some people feared beforehand). You have to know that I am always hopeful, though I don't expect miracles.
One important bit where he can still restrict a RN government is that much of what they'd like to do is unconstitutional. They'd need a referendum and constitutional reform, and they can't do that without the President cooperating. So there are safeguards against the worst excesses.
One thing to note is that Meloni is pushing for a revision of the constitution too. Generally it looks like the far right, in Italy, in Poland or Hungary starts out slow and prefers to gradually erode constitutional protections rather than do anything dramatic. We can expect it'd go down that way here too. That being said, the far right in Europe usually works with the traditional right and can rely on experienced people. RN members, by contrast, will be mostly alone, plus they are thugs and generally pretty dumb. So they might get frustrated quickly and try for a coup instead. I don't think they would though -- they have to look respectable at least until the presidential election in 2027.
