France Government

The Fifth Republic is the current system of government in France. It is based on the Constitution of the Fifth Republic which was adopted in 1958, after the Fourth Republic collapsed, under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle. It is a semi-presidential representative democracy, where the Head of State is the President. The Executive comprises of the President and the Government which in turn is made up of the Prime Minister who is also the Head of Government and the Ministers. The Parliament is the legislative branch, and it is made up of two houses, that is, the National Assembly which is the principal legislative body and the Senate, while the Judiciary is separate and independent.

French citizens directly elect the President of France as well as the 577 members of the National Assembly for five-year terms. However, the President is only eligible to serve for two terms. An electoral college made up of locally elected representatives elects the 348 members of the Senate. The office of Prime Minister is appointed by the President. However, if his political side does not control a majority in the National Assembly, his appointee has to reflect the majority. The Prime Minister has no fixed term and stays in office for as long as he has the goodwill of the President and National Assembly.

The National Assembly meets in the Palais Bourbon in Paris on the bank of the River Seine. The construction of started in 1722 as a country house, but was nationalized during the French Revolution, and later in 1806 Napoleon made modification to mirror the church of Madeleine. On the other hand, the Senate meets at the Palais du Luxembourg which is located in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris. The President and the Prime Minister reside in the Palais de l’ Élysée and the Hôtel Matignon respectively. All these buildings previously belonged to the aristocracy but were nationalized and converted for government use after the French Revolution.

Political parties in France are generally organized by right-wing parties (the National Front, the Union For the Popular Movement), centrist parties (Democratic Movement, New Centre), and left-wing parties (Socialist Party, Unitarian Left).

This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018

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Published on 2019-11-06


Capital	Paris
Languages	French (official) 100%, declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish, Occitan, Picard)
Ethnic Groups	Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Indochinese, Basque minorities
Religion	Christian (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic) 63-66%, Muslim 7-9%, Buddhist 0.5-0.75%, Jewish 0.5-0.75%, other 0.5-1.0%, none 23-28%
Government	Semi-presidential republic
Independance	No official date of independence: 486 (Frankish tribes unified under Merovingian kingship); 10 August 843 (Western Francia established from the division of the Carolingian Empire); 14 July 1789 (French monarchy overthrown); 22 September 1792 (First French Republic founded); 4 October 1958 (Fifth French Republic established)
Area	643,801.00 km²
Water Area	3,374.00 km²
Land Area	640,427.00 km²
Population	66,836,154.00 Much of the population is concentrated in the north and southeast; although there are many urban agglomerations throughout the country, Paris is by far the largest city, with Lyon ranked a distant second
Location	metropolitan France:?Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain
No. Bordering Countries	8
Bordering Countries	Andorra 55 km, Belgium 556 km, Germany 418 km, Italy 476 km, Luxembourg 69 km, Monaco 6 km, Spain 646 km, Switzerland 525 km
GDP(PPP)	$2,700,000,000,000.00 (USD)
GDP (Per Capita)	$42,400.00 (USD)
Export Partners	Its major export partners are Germany, Spain, and the United States.
Export Commodities	Its main exports are machinery and transportation equipment, as well as aircraft.
Import Partners	Its major import partners are Germany, China, and Italy.
Import Commodities	Its major imports include machinery and equipment, vehicles, crude oil, and aircraft.
Climate	Metropolitan France:?generally cool winters and mild summers, but mild winters and hot summers along the Mediterranean; occasional strong, cold, dry, north-to-northwesterly wind known as mistral
Terrain	Metropolitan France:?mostly flat plains or gently rolling hills in north and west; remainder is mountainous, especially Pyrenees in south, Alps in east
Learn More	France

France Government

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