France contemplates the end of the Fifth Republic

"France, to borrow the words of veteran political observer Alain Duhamel, “has gone beyond a political crisis”.
It is now flirting with regime change.
It is now in disarray, and Emmanuel Macron stands at the centre of a drama of his own making that some say could yet end the Fifth Republic.
Even by France’s theatrical standards, it has been an extraordinary week.

On Friday night, President Macron stunned Paris by re-appointing Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister - just four days after he had resigned and his first government collapsed in record time.
The 39-year-old self-styled “monk-soldier” now faces the Herculean task of drafting an austerity budget and forming a cabinet acceptable to a parliament that wants him gone. His first government lasted 27 days; his second may not last a week.
Opposition leaders on the Right called the re-appointment a “bad joke”. The Left said they would topple the government unless it tears up pension reforms that Mr Macron pinned his legacy on.
Thierry Beaudet, president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council - and once tipped for prime minister himself - said what millions of French people are thinking.
“This situation is totally incomprehensible,” he told Franceinfo. “From the point of view of our fellow citizens, it reinforces the idea that the political class lives in a world of its own.”
Across the country, that phrase - “a world of its own” - now sums up the mood. A weary nation, facing budget cuts, rising debt and political paralysis, is watching the Paris elite chase its own tail.
Beyond the theatre lies a deeper structural breakdown.
Since Mr Macron lost his absolute majority in 2022, France has entered what historian Nicolas Roussellier calls “an age of tripolarisation”.
Three irreconcilable blocs - a social and environmentalist left, a pro-European liberal centre, and a sovereigntist right - now dominate the National Assembly. None can command a majority.
As a result, asserted Mr Duhamel, “France has now moved beyond a political crisis. I think it’s a regime crisis”." 

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