Review of facts. Did Emmanuel Macron stage a “coup” in France by dissolving Parliament?

A publication is circulating on social media alleging that French President Emmanuel Macron staged a “coup d’état” in France by dissolving the National Assembly following the victory of the National Union (far-right party led by Marine Le Pen) in the European elections. elections on June 10.

“Macron carries out a coup d’état in France, after a right-wing victory, and dissolves Parliament,” reads the publication, which accompanies news excerpts about Macron’s dissolution of the National Assembly. Other versions of the publication consulted by the Observer accuse Macron of “authoritarianism,” suggest that Macron’s defeat occurred in the legislative elections, and even use the expression “left-wing coup.”

In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Union won the European elections with more than 31% of the vote, while Macron’s coalition received less than half: with less than 15% it came in second place.

Now, to what extent does this accusation of a coup d’état make sense? To answer this question, it is enough to understand some basic information about how politics works in France, a semi-presidential regime in which the President, who is the head of state, has executive power.

By definition, for it to be a coup d’état, as alleged in the publication, there would need to be an usurpation, by illegal means, of the legally established power in the country.

However, that is not what is at stake. Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly by invoking article 12 of the French Constitution, which reads as follows:

The President of the Republic may, after consulting the Prime Minister and the presidents of the assemblies, pronounce the dissolution of the National Assembly. General elections are held at least twenty days and at most forty days after the dissolution.

The National Assembly meets in full on the second Thursday after its election. If this meeting is held outside the period scheduled for the ordinary session, a full session is opened for a period of fifteen days.

There cannot be a new dissolution procedure in the year following these elections.

In other words, the Constitution of the French Republic itself provides for the possibility that the President may decide, for political reasons, to dissolve Parliament. It imposes conditions (i.e. preventing a new dissolution the following year), but grants the President this prerogative.

The conclusion is, therefore, only one: Emmanuel Macron did not carry out a “coup d’état” by dissolving the National Assembly, since he limited himself to applying a possibility granted to him by the Constitution, which guarantees that the head of State can do so. political decision.

A different question is the political assessment that can be made of Macron’s decision. There are those who speak of a risky move and those who criticize the decision. On this topic, the Observer has already published several in-depth articles with analysis and explanations of what is at stake in the current French political landscape: you can read, for example, here and here.

Conclusion

Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly after the poor result obtained in the European elections is not unanimous. By calling new elections, he made a move considered risky that could have a result contrary to what was expected. Still, if we focus on the objectivity of the accusation that appears in this publication – that Macron carried out a “coup” – it is necessary to conclude that it is not true. The decision made by Emmanuel Macron is completely legal and is a prerogative granted to him by article 12 of the Constitution.

Thus, according to the Observer classification system, this content is:

MISTAKEN

In Facebook’s rating system, this content is:

FAKE: Major content claims are factually inaccurate. Generally, this option corresponds to “false” or “mostly false” ratings on fact-checking websites.

NOTE: This content was curated by Observador as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.