Ex-French president proposes abolishing premiership

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

France should abolish the post of prime minister in order to have "one head of the executive," argued former French President Francois Hollande on Thursday.

Hollande made the comments in an interview with Public Senat, the Senate's broadcaster, as part of a debate marking the 60th anniversary of the Fifth Republic.

"This person, the prime minister, which we do not know if he is still the majority leader -- Edouard Philippe is not even a member of the majority party -- or if he is a collaborator," said Hollande, whose five years in the presidency ended last year.

"I consider that it is necessary, in the words of Georges Pompidou, to cut the Gordian knot," and "go all the way, that is to say that the president of the republic should be the sole head of the executive,” he argued.

And to avoid a "hyper-presidency," Hollande proposed "a parliament that will in many ways resemble the power of the U.S. Congress ... and a president of the republic elected for five years, who must fulfill his mandate and who is necessarily the leader of the majority."

The former president added that "the hyper-presidency" that we have seen "for years" is "not related to the current Constitution" but to a "too-weak parliament" and this "diarchy within the executive."