The Europeanization of French politics

POL S 346/JSIS A 302: Europeanizaon of polical systems Spring Term 2017 Frank Wendler May 18, 2017 What did the 2017 French Presidential Election have to do with Europeanization?

Emmanuel Macron The 2017 French Presidential Election: Aspects of Europeanization

• Prominence of European issues and quesons • Membershipin Eurozone and EU as one of most contested issues

• Re-alignment of voters and polical pares • Polical conflict: from economic (le/right polics) to cultural dimension (progressive/authoritarian polics) • Macron: progressive liberalism • Emphac endorsement of EU, promise of revitalizaon and reform • Pro-business economic program, reform agenda for liberalizaon • Le Pen: Tradional authoritarianism • Economic proteconism: Return to naonal currency, exit from EU • Cultural proteconism: Limitaons on immigraon and mulculturalism

• Credibility crisis of established pares, partly caused by EU • Both major pares not in run-off, elecon seen to follow on two failed presidencies (Sarkozy and Hollande) • EU has constrained acon capacity of past French Presidents through Single Market and Euro, damaging their percepon as efficient leaders and increasing a percepon of German dominance in EU Resulting questions

• What is the history of France’s involvement in the EU (and how does it differ from Germany’s or the UK’s?)

• What are key topics and conflicts arising from European integraon in France?

• What are the main quesons for France’s future in the EU? The political system of the French 5th Republic: Designed to establish political leadership

• Polical system: a majoritarian democracy • Unitary, centralized state • Strong presidenal execuve, secondary role of parliament • Limited role of courts and judicial review • Majoritarian vong system and presidenal use of referenda

• Polics and polical culture • Adversarial polical culture • Fluid and polarized party system, personalizaon of polics • Strong culture of polical protest and strike

• Membership in the EC/EU and historical narraves • Founding member and iniator of the EC • Memory of WWII as jusfying narrave, but without a sense of atonement for the past The political system of the 5th Republic: Leadership as the main rationale

• Historical background: WW II and the fragile 4th Republic • Experience of instability and polical polarizaon in the postwar 4th Republic

• Moment of crisis in the end-1950s • Algeria crisis; violent protest at home

• Charles de Gaulle as the founder of the 5th Republic • Resistance hero, polical leader and founder of the 5th Republic • ‘Gaullism’ as a polical ideologgy: stasm and projecon of republican values The Executive: The President as political leader

• President of the Republic • Head of State and Government • Strong polical competences in foreign and security policy • Authority to issue guidelines for most areas of domesc policy • 5-year (inially 7-year) period in office • Direct elecon by French cizens by absolute majority • First round: Potenal winner must secure popular majority of votes • Second round: Run-off elecon between top two candidates

• Prime Minister • Accountable to the Naonal Assembly • In pracce, working under the direcon of the President • Excepon: Compeng party polical idenes of President and Prime Minister (‘Cohabitaon’) La cohabitation: une specialité francaise

Jacques Chirac (Conservave – RPR), President 1995 - 2007

Lionel Jospin (Socialist – PS), Prime Minister 1997 – 2002) Presidents of the Republic

Nicolas Sarkozy, UMP (Conservave), Francois Hollande, Socialist, 2007 - 2012 2012 - present

Jacques Chirac, RPR/UMP (Conservave), Francois Mierrand, Socialist, 1995 - 2007 1981-1995 The executive and parliament

• Government led by President and Prime Minister (in this order)

President Francois Hollande and PM Manuel Valls • PM accountable to Naonal Assembly

• Senate has advisory funcon

• Currently single-party majority in Assembly

French Naonal Assembly (l.) and Senate (r.) Parliament: Subordinate to the executive

• ‘Raonalized parliamentarianism’ • Constuonal limitaon of powers of parliament • Limitaon of parliamentary sessions and queson me • Execuve authority to fast-track decision-making (‘guillone’)

• Asymmetric bi-cameralism • Naonal Assembly as main chamber of parliament • Senate: mostly advisory funcon, not directly elected Voting in elections and referendums: Mandating political leadership

• Vong rules for the Naonal Assembly • Majority vong system in single-member districts • First round and run-off elecons (similar to presidenal elecons) • Vong system privileges bigger pares and tends to produce clear polical majories in the Naonal Assembly • Since 2007: Alignment of parliamentary and presidenal elecons (more likely to produce congruent majories at both levels) French voters rejected the European Constuonal Treaty by a majority • Referendums: a polical resource for the of “No” votes of 54,7 % in May 2005 President • Referendums are called by the President, giving him a great degree of authority over the ming, topics and queson asked at the polls The state and the regions: A (very limited) departure from the unitary state

• Decentralizaon as a project of polical reform • Decentralizaon in 1980s • Constuonal reform in 2003

• Levels of regional government • Departments (metropolitan / overseas) • Regions • Arondissements

• A departure from the unitary state? • ‘Self-rule’: Limited polical autonomy of regions and departments • ‘Shared rule’: No formal representaon of regions / departments at the state level, or interacon with central state instuons (although, informally, both levels interact through cumulave mandates) Politics and society in France: A centralized, hierarchical system

• Centralizaon • Polical, economic and cultural life concentrates in Paris

• Elism • Polical and economic elites are educated at a select number of elite academies, oen closely networked with each other

• Republicanism • 5th Republic is based on secular values and the idea of mutual recognion as cizens, independently of ethnic origin

• Stasm • The French state tradionally plays a strong intervening role in economic policy

• Polarizaon • Leadership and centralizaon lead to a strongly adversarial polical culture, frequent strikes and protests, and a fluid and polarized party system Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman, two of the architects of the EC France and European integration: from glory to failure? • The foundaons: a French iniave • The Schuman declaraon: a founding moment of Europea unity • Jean Monnet as one of the founding fathers of the EC

• The first two decades: influenced by French leadership • Resistance against supranaonal decision-making / empty chair crisis • Resistance against accession of the UK to the EC

• Transion to European Union: a Franco-German compromise • Maastricht Treaty: essenally a bargain to deal with German unificaon

• The 2000s: Growing resistance towards more integraon • The Constuonal Treaty: rejected in a French referendum 2005 • Scepcism against Eastern enlargement of the EU: the Polish Plumber • Resistance against accession of Turkey to the EU

• The Eurozone crisis: a growing sense of failure • Sarkozy: lobbying in vain for ‘gouvernement economique’ • Hollande: resisng in vain Germany’s lead on the Fiscal Compact and ESM Sources of French Euroscepticism: two forms of anti-liberalism

• Economic an-liberalism • Resistance against Anglo-Saxon free market capitalism • Tradionally intervenonist role of the state • Comparably strict labor standards (35-hour week)

• Cultural an-liberalism • Resistance against immigraon and mulculturalism • Growing resistance against Islam, depicted as being opposed to French Republicanism • Tradional resistance against ‘Anglo-Saxon’ lifestyles and culture Expressions of French Euro-scepticism

• The Maastricht referendum 1992: Le pet oui

• The Constuon referendum 2005: Un grand Non

• Splits within the French Socialist Party

• Rise of an-globalizaon movements L. Fabius

• Rise of the Front Naonal

J. Bové M. Le Pen How did it come to this? French political parties and the EU

• France in the EU: recent developments (Elaine)

• The UMP and the radical Right – Ryan