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April 27, 2008
France: The government, simply put.
Taken verbatim from The Economist profile as of April 17--and in case you didn't know all this (we didn't...):
Official name: French Republic
Legal system: Codified Roman law system; constitution of 1958
National legislature: Bicameral - Senate of 331 members indirectly elected by local councils for a period of nine years, with one-third retiring every three years; National Assembly of 577 members directly elected from individual constituencies by a two-ballot system for a period of five years; may be dissolved by the president.
Main political parties
Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP); Parti socialiste (PS); Mouvement democrate (MD); Parti communiste francais (PCF); Parti radical de gauche (PRG); Verts; Front national (FN)
National government generally
There is a clear separation of executive and legislative power; constitutionally, the locus of executive power is the Council of Ministers, which is chaired by the president. The prime minister is appointed by the president, who must consider whether the government can obtain the necessary majority in parliament; according to the constitution, the prime minister hands his resignation to the president, but in practice, prime ministers have been dismissed by the president.
Ministers are similarly appointed and dismissed, but on the prime minister's suggestion; they do not have to be members of parliament; an interim right-of-centre government was appointed in May 2007 and confirmed in office following the legislative election in June of the same year
Electoral system: Universal suffrage; two-round voting system for the National Assembly
National elections: Last presidential election held on April 22nd and May 6th 2007; next presidential election April-May 2012. Last legislative election June 10th and 17th 2007; next legislative election due by June 2012
Head of state: President, directly elected for a five-year term, currently Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP), elected in May 2007
Prime minister: Francois Fillon (UMP)
Senior ministers
Agriculture & fisheries: Michel Barnier (UMP)
Budget, public accounts & civil service: Eric Woerth (UMP)
Culture & communications: Christine Albanel (UMP)
Defence: Herve Morin (Nouveau Centre)
Ecology & sustainable development: Jean-Louis Borloo (UMP)
Economics, finance & employment: Christine Lagarde (UMP)
Foreign & European affairs: Bernard Kouchner (PS)
Health, youth & sport: Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin (UMP)
Higher education & research: Valerie Pecresse (UMP)
Housing & urban affairs: Christine Boutin (FRS-UMP)
Immigration, integration & national identity: Brice Hortefeux (UMP)
Interior, overseas France & local government: Michele Alliot-Marie (UMP)
Justice: Rachida Dati (UMP)
Labour, social relations & solidarity: Xavier Bertrand (UMP)
National education: Xavier Darcos (UMP)
Central bank governor: Christian Noyer
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at April 27, 2008 08:44 PM