Elementy prezydencjalizmu w systemie ustrojowym Francji okresu V Republiki

Abstract

Elements of Presidentialism in the Constitutional System of France’s Fifth Republic

The Fifth French Republic was created as a modified parliamentary system, but due to constitutional changes and tendencies revealed in political practice, the functioning system of government was quite significantly modified. The purpose of this article is to analyze the elements of the presidential system that were introduced in 1958, thus in the original text of the constitution, resulted from its subsequent amendments, or can only be seen in the practice of exercising power in the conditions of the politically homogenous executive branch, i.e. outside of cohabitation periods. The author draws attention to two different ways of defining the term “presidentialism” in the French context (as a formal constitutional structure or as a pro-presidential configuration of the semi-presidentialism of the Fifth Republic), and argues that the regime initiated in 1958 is still based on at least some pillars characterizing the parliamentary model. Hence, its subsequent modifications were only to highlight presidentialism as one of the possible variants of political practice under the Fifth Republic, and not to accept presidentialism as a constitutional system of government.