Talk:President of France

Why five year terms?
Today I have learnt that presidential terms is five years instead of seven as before. Just wondering why the presidential term has been shortened.--129.94.6.28 05:16, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
 * because 7 years was ok for a president that was just here for honorary reasons, like during the 3rd and 4th Republic, but a bit too long for a head of the executive. Public opinion was in favour of such reduction so finally, after a first term of 7 years, Chirac decided to proposed the reduction to 5 years for the next term, by referendum that has been accepted.Alain10 19:15, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
 * BTW, if you want some very good, complete and detailed information, go to Government of France Alain10 19:18, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
 * There is no real reason why the terms were shortened. People just thought this a good idea at the time. It has nothing to do with "7 years was ok for a president that was just here for honorary reasons, like during the 3rd and 4th Republic, but a bit too long for a head of the executive" as DeGaulle, Pompidou, Giscard and Mitterand all served seven-year terms just fine while being may more than just honorary presidents. Str1977 (talk) 17:20, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Was the move from President of France to President of the French Republic ever discussed? john k 02:36, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

In French the President is NEVER described as "President of France" - he (or she) is President of the French Republic, i.e. the French state. See the distinction during the Revolution of the notion of "King of France" (ruler over the France as a whole)and "King of the French" (head of the French political system). french r batty lmao —Preceding unsigned comment added by User: (talk • contribs)

No. It was because King of France indicated king of a territory, whereas King of the French means king of the French people. The latter was what is called a Popular monarchy. It is standard in most European republics for the head of state to be called President of the Republic. Ireland is one of the few that doesn't, simply because it had a president before it became a republic. FearÉIREANN \(caint) 14:35, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

oldest in Europe?
The claim that the French presidency is the oldest in Europe seems dubious. The First President of the Swiss Confederation take office on 21 November 1848. By contrast, Louis Napoleon did not take office until 20 December 1848. This would seem to make the Swiss presidency the oldest in Europe. john k 22:34, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Nope; Napoleon I was President of the short-lived French client republic of Italy from 1802 to 1805. So; the Italian one would perhaps be the oldest, if one wants to claim continuity between that republic and the present one (I don't, by the way).JWULTRABLIZZARD (talk) 16:44, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I heard once that one of the precursors of that client Republic of Italy, the Cispadane Republic also had a President that was the first head of state in Europe to be called that. When it comes to extant Presidencies I think it's between France and Switzerland. Gerard von Hebel (talk) 17:42, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Power of the president and constitutional convention
I do not agree about what is said about the president having power both coming from constitution and from constitutional convention.

This is actually the opposite: the president has a lot of power from the constitution that, from constitutional convention, he cannot use. For example, the president promulgates the laws, but he has no veto power. When Mitterand in 1986 refused to sign and ordinance, it has been criticized by most legal scholars as illegal because, by constitutional convention, he had to sign it.

I believe the article err on many aspects of constitutional law. Please see rather the excellent article government of France, which is fully accurate. Alain10 20:56, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Picture
Should we have a picture at the top of the page? I'm thinking of either a picture of the Elysee palace with a caption saying something like "The President of France lives in the Elysee palace" or a picture of Nicolas Sarkozy with a caption like "Since May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy is the current President of France." I dunno... What do you other people think? Zouavman Le Zouave (Talk to me!) 10:48, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

President of France or President of the French Republic

 * Well this has been changed recently without much discussion. So let's open the debate. Hektor (talk) 08:37, 28 December 2007 (UTC)
 * The French Constitution mentions the « Président de la République » (http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/html/constitution/constitution2.htm) not the « Président de la France ». Med (talk) 10:35, 28 December 2007 (UTC)


 * "French Republic" is just the official, formal name of the state. Wikipedia should be consistent and use common names, therefor it should be "President of France". Compare to the articles President of Greece (not "President of the Hellenic Republic") or Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (not "Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"). /Slarre (talk) 22:45, 29 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree with Slarre. Formally, "France" doesn't exist, it's the "French Republic". But WP uses common names, not formal names for countries. Snocrates 01:01, 30 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't know about English speaking countries, but here nobody says Président de France or Président de la France. Everybody calls Sarkozy : le Président de la République. Hektor (talk) 10:30, 12 January 2008 (UTC)
 * But we are not in France, nor are we speaking French. English language news media seems to use "President of France" -  - much more than "President of the French Republic" - .  "President of the Republic" is used a lot, but is obviously inappropriate as an article title, since there are many different countries whose head of state is called "President of the Republic."  I think the article should be at "President of France," with us explaining that the title is actually "President of the Republic." john k (talk) 16:20, 12 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I think that the discussion should be brought up again, since somebody moved the page from "President of France" to "President of the French Republic", seemingly without consulting anybody.--EdgarCabreraFariña (talk) 18:55, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

April 30, 1789
Could someone explain to me what does this "Formation" date mean ? Hektor (talk) 17:32, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
 * When something was formed... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.155.138.213 (talk) 03:54, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Removal of President
What scope is there in the French Constitution for the removal of the President? Is the only option impeachement or does this not even exist? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.167.78.207 (talk) 17:30, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Salary?
What salary is the President paid? I couldn't see it in the article.86.42.246.187 (talk) 10:55, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Wish granted. It's currently about 21000€/month, I gave the detailed formula for computing it. David.Monniaux (talk) 14:12, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Excuse me, but his salary is actually about 14910€/month, I konw this because I'm French. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.26.56.216 (talk) 20:35, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Number of terms
In the article, it says that since 2008, the president is not allowed to sit more than two consecutive terms. But, is s/he allowed more non-consecutive terms? /Ludde23 Talk Contrib 09:01, 13 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, as that's not forbidden by Par. 6 of the French Constitution. So it's slightly more "relaxed" than e.g. for the US presidency. --Roentgenium111 (talk) 18:27, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Salary Error?
The article states his salary as "€14,910.31/month". Clearly a mistake. A simple bachelor could not afford to eat of such peanuts! Missing a zero or two somewhere maybe? 184.155.138.213 (talk) 03:53, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I think it's a question of point and comma's. The French and other Europeans use them the other way around in numbers than the English do. Gerard von Hebel (talk) 17:49, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Explain primaries, parties and nominations / parrainages
Somewhere, presumably here, there needs to be an explanation of how nominees for presidential elections work both in theory and in practice, with reference to primary elections by at least some of the parties - e.g. Socialist Party (France) presidential primary, 2017, The Republicans (France) presidential primary, 2016, and any others that may happen. How do those primaries relate to the nomination process? I guess that such primaries should also be listed and summarized at French presidential election, 2017, along with more clarity there on the nomination process itself. ★NealMcB★ (talk) 17:17, 19 November 2016 (UTC)
 * French presidential election, 2017 seems more appropriate. Wykx  (talk) 17:29, 19 November 2016 (UTC)

Term end?
When exactly does a term begin/end? In inauguation dates May 16, 2007, May 15, 2012 and May 14, 2017, I don't see a pattern. The number of days after the election as well as the day (Sunday, Tuesday etc.) is different between these three election. --217.110.69.30 (talk) 11:26, 3 May 2017 (UTC)
 * The exact date is decided by a common agreement between the exiter and the winner. Wykx  (talk) 07:47, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Fun with splitting
As the election is both today and tomorrow, I've decided on a little clean up. There are lots of these lists for prime ministers in the British commonwealth and for US Presidents, so why not France? France is a cool country. Arglebargle79 (talk) 14:57, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

duly ex-officio or simply a titular Catalan Prince?
There has been some discussion about whether the office of Prince of Andorra carries with it duties or is simply an obsolete titular lip-service. To properly address the Prince, as referred to in both the Emmanuel Macron article and the President of France article, wikipedia uses the legal term "ex-officio" which bears with it duties and rights of the presidium, thus, it must be said that the Prince should have command of his own official language.

If other wikipedians or PR reps within the wikipedian ranks disagree with this (perfectly understandable as any head-of-state should be spared the ridicule associated with being incompetent in ones own language), perhaps the term "ex-officio" should be removed. Mind you, this is the English wiki, dunno if the French are like coiled springs, ready to riot in the streets at the drop of حميدة جندوبي`s hat! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 126.209.40.121 (talk) 00:34, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

life
life is amzing — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.131.10.199 (talk) 22:52, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Test COVID-19.
The President is not a king. The president is avoided by the people. Citizens. Because of this. Citizens cannot be indifferent to the fate, life, health of the President of the Republic of France. So what's up with that "Covid" - "Човид" ?195.244.180.59 (talk) 14:49, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

President of France
Semi-protection: High level of vandalism. MogasTheThird (talk) 00:54, 6 May 2021 (UTC)

"President of France" does not sound right
By the way, I am not French, but I am French speaking, and definitely, "President of France" sounds strange to French speaking ears (but I hear you, this is not a page in French). The reason is probably that there is a real meaningfull difference between "[ruler] of France" and "[ruler] of the French", as in "King of France" vs "King of the French" as explained in this section of the "French monarchs" article)

I see a discussion on this subject already happened, but then the anternative seemed to be between the current name and "President of the Repubblic".

I would suggest something much more simple : "French President".

In a former discussion, Google was used as an argument, well a simple google search brings a bit over 9 million hits for "President of France", 14 million for "French President". Same with Google News where "French President is clearly favoured compared with "President of France".

Anyway, I thought I would suggest something when I stumbled on this page, and as I was just passing, I am not sure I will be here to participate in the discussion, if this generate an actual discussion. 2A02:A03F:6129:CF00:8D0E:9220:A3F1:F16D (talk) 10:51, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Marine Le Pen Is Now The Current President of France
And The Edits I Made Were Not Vandalism And Not False Information — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rmedjh2333 (talk • contribs) 18:11, 24 April 2022 (UTC)


 * The edits were obvius Vandalism, as Emanuel Macron is projected to win reelection. https://www.france24.com/en/
 * Even if Macron had not won todays election, he would remain the incumbent President until 'inauguration day', which takes place about 10 days after the election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_presidential_inauguration Jones Karl (talk) 18:26, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Le Pen conceded 15 minutes ago. XOR&#39;easter (talk) 18:31, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

Category:French presidency has been nominated for discussion
Category:French presidency has been nominated for possible deletion, merging, or renaming. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. -- 67.70.25.80 (talk) 11:48, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Emblem is wrong.
It is rather. Beshogur (talk) 08:23, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Serve out the president's term, or not?
In the United States, when a president dies, resigns or is found incapable, the successor serves out the term. If it is more than half-way through the term, the successor can run for two terms of his own, otherwise only one term. Lyndon Johnson was eligible to run again in 1968 though he chose not to.

What happens in France? For lack of any text to indicate it, I am assuming that the term resets to the full five (or formerly seven) year length once a replacement is elected for a president who died or resigned, perhaps to the May 14 that is closest to the term length (i.e. if into office in July, will serve a little less than five years, and if into office in April or March, will serve a little longer than five years).

In other words, if Macron resigned or died in 2024, the 2024 presidential election (replacing the 2027 election) would choose a successor who would hold office until a 2029 election. GBC (talk) 21:54, 3 May 2024 (UTC)