The legislature lies with the bicameral parliament, consisting of the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) has 577 members (555 of them from the motherland and 22 from the overseas departments and territories), who are elected for a five-year period by majority vote. Active voting rights exist from the age of 18, passive voting rights from the age of 23. The Senate, representing the local authorities, has 348 members who are indirectly elected for 6 years according to a certain key for the motherland, the overseas territories and the French living abroad. Half of the Senate seats are filled every 3 years. The senators are elected at the departmental level by electoral colleges made up of members of the National Assembly and the General Councils as well as delegates from the municipal councils. If the highest office is vacant, the President of the Senate is the representative of the State President. Parliament has a significantly weaker position in the Fifth Republic than in the Third and Fourth Republic. His legislative competence is limited; only the subject areas expressly listed in the constitution are regulated by formal laws. Bills can be introduced in both chambers by both the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament. Certain legislative proposals can be made the subject of a referendum. The constitutional reform of 2008 strengthened the parliament and gave it control rights over the official acts of the president. Parliament has a significantly weaker position in the Fifth Republic than in the Third and Fourth Republic. His legislative competence is limited; only the subject areas expressly listed in the constitution are regulated by formal laws. Bills can be introduced in both chambers by both the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament. Certain legislative proposals can be made the subject of a referendum. The constitutional reform of 2008 strengthened the parliament and gave it control rights over the official acts of the president. Parliament has a significantly weaker position in the Fifth Republic than in the Third and Fourth Republic. His legislative competence is limited; only the subject areas expressly listed in the constitution are regulated by formal laws. Bills can be introduced in both chambers by both the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament. Certain legislative proposals can be made the subject of a referendum. The constitutional reform of 2008 strengthened the parliament and gave it control rights over the official acts of the president. Bills can be introduced in both chambers by both the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament. Certain legislative proposals can be made the subject of a referendum. The constitutional reform of 2008 strengthened the parliament and gave it control rights over the official acts of the president. Bills can be introduced in both chambers by both the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament. Certain legislative proposals can be made the subject of a referendum. The constitutional reform of 2008 strengthened the parliament and gave it control rights over the official acts of the president.
The Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) consists of 9 members appointed for 9 years (3 each by the President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly and the President of the Senate) and the former Presidents of the Republic for life (responsibilities: see section Law). The Council of State (Conseil d’État) advises the government on issues relating to legislation and regulations and is also the highest administrative court. Its members, although appointed by the government, traditionally enjoy great independence. The Economic and Social Council (Conseil Économique et Social), whose members are partly determined by the government and partly by professional organizations, advises the government on important economic and social issues and gives its opinion on relevant legislative projects. The Court of Auditors (Cour des Comptes) monitors the lawful use of public funds. Constitutional amendments must be approved by referendum or by the congress made up of both chambers of parliament.
France is a founding member of the European Union and belongs to the European Economic and Monetary Union (Eurozone). Although a member of NATO since 1949, the country remained outside the military integration and joint command structures of the North Atlantic Pact from 1966–2009. As an official nuclear power (nuclear weapons) and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, France often pursued its own foreign policy. From the 2000s received coordination with EU and NATO partners and the strengthening of the common security and defense policy a higher priority. The intensive cooperation with Germany has been supplemented by the “Weimar Triangle” with Poland since 1991. Close ties exist with other French-speaking countries (Francophonie), especially in Africa.
Parties
As a country located in European Union according to Countryaah, France has a wide-ranging party system in which there are frequent splits, new foundations and mergers. The left spectrum includes v. a. the Parti Socialiste (PS, German Socialist Party, founded in 1969), the Parti Communiste Français (PCF, German French Communist Party, founded in 1920), the left-wing socialist, globalization-critical movement La France Insoumise (FI, German Unyielding France, founded in 2016) and the left-wing socialist Parti de Gauche (PG, German Left Party, founded in 2009). The party Europe Écologie – Les Verts (EÉLV; German Ecological Europe – The Greens, created in 2010 from the merger of the Les Verts party founded in 1984 and the Europe Écologie alliance formed in 2009) focuses on environmental and European ideas. The Parti Radical de Gauche (PRG, German Radical Party of the Left, emerged in 1972 from the Parti Républicain Radical et Radical-Socialiste) a left-liberal party that had its base in the middle class and among freelancers, disbanded in 2017 and merged with another group to form the Mouvement radical. The president sees itself as a social liberal force E. Macron supporting party La République en Marche (LREM or LRM; German The Republic in Motion, founded in 2016 under the name En Marche! [EM]). Les Républicains belong to the conservative spectrum of parties(LR, German The Republicans). In 2015 they were renamed the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP, German Union for a People’s Movement). the right-wing liberal Démocratie Libérale (DL, German Liberal Democracy, created in 1997 by renaming the Parti Républicain) and the Rassemblement pour la République (RPR, German collection movement for the Republic, founded in 1976 as the successor organization to the Gaullist Union des Démocrates pour la République [UDR], German Union of Democrats for the Republic). Centrist groups are the Mouvement Démocrate (MoDem; German Democratic Movement, founded in 2007) and the Bündnis Union des Démocrates et Indépendants (UDI, German Union of Democrats and Independents, founded in 2012). They went z. T. Union pour la Démocratie Française (UDF, German Union for French Democracy). The right Front National (FN, German National Front, founded in 1972), which renamed itself Rassemblement National (National Collection Movement) on June 1, 2018, has extremely nationalistic, foreign and anti-European goals.