French President Emmanuel Macron says the presidential election is not worth a regime change. In an interview with radio station France Culture, Macron lashes out at the proposals of his rival Marine Le Pen, which he describes as contrary to the French constitution.
Next Sunday, the French will vote in the second round of the presidential elections. Just like five years ago, it is between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen of the radical right Rassemblement Nationale.
“Mrs Le Pen’s proposals to revise the constitution are not in line with that constitution, and that is a problem,” said the French president, who is running for a second five-year term. “Others do that in other countries. For example, you can change the regime as you see fit in Hungary, but I don’t think you can.” Macron refers here to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has had the constitution amended several times to maintain his position of power.
If elected, Marine Le Pen wants to organize a referendum on a revision of the French constitution, mainly to change immigration rules, by inscribing the concept of “national precedence”. But, according to Macron, a constitutional reform cannot be done after a referendum without parliament’s approval.
The French president himself favours a modernization of the French constitution in consultation with all political formations in parliament.
Last week, Le Pen said that even reintroducing the death penalty was possible through a referendum. “The death penalty issue could come after a referendum,” she told TV channel France 2.
“Everything can come after a referendum, except things contradict the constitution. A day later, she had to admit that the death penalty re-introduction is not possible via a referendum because this is not allowed according to the constitution.