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Many things that happen in European politics sound insane to Americans, but then it turns out we just don't understand the institutions and processes involved.
How big of a deal is dissolving parliament? Is there historical precedent?
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97 sats \ 3 replies \ @fanis 9 Jun
It happened from time to time under the 5th Republic in France. Last occurence was Chirac in 1997. So yeah, kinda of a big deal.
Note that France is a bicameral system where the Parliament has two chambers: the Assemblée Nationale ("national assembly", which Macron just dissolved) and the Sénat (senate). The Assemblée Nationale can dismiss the government, and reciprocally the President can dissolve the Assemblée Nationale. But the Sénat remains unchanged.
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Is there a prime minister in France 🇫🇷?
Sorry for the simple mind question
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Yes. Gabriel Attal. Good WEF asset, too
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That's fascinating. It would be terrifying if the American president could dissolve the House of Representatives, but we do have impeachment that goes the other way.
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This 5 minute video clearly explains how Europe works. In addition to what is explained in the video, there are national governments that have their own laws but are required to transpose European laws. Broadly speaking, we can compare the laws of the European Parliament to the federal laws of the United States and national laws to American state laws.
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13 sats \ 1 reply \ @398ja 10 Jun
Here's a good 5min article explaining how un-democratic the EU actually is, and why the current elections won't change much, because those in power, like Ursula vdL, are nominated, and not elected. https://unherd.com/?p=605287
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nominated by whom?
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Dissolving parliament sounds like the Weimar Republic
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41 sats \ 1 reply \ @orthwyrm 9 Jun
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lol.. true dat
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So, they have to re-elect the entire parliament? If things are trending against him, why would that help?
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96 sats \ 2 replies \ @fanis 9 Jun
Nope: the French parliament has two chambers (Assemblée Nationale and Sénat). The President can only dissolve the Assemblée Nationale, and hence French people are only going to reelect this "half" of the Parliament (the Assemblée has 577 members, the Sénat 348).
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Senate has more seats than I expected
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Thank you for clarifying this.
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I think he is, like Sunak, one of the rats that are leaving the EUSSR-Titanic now.
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He's fleeing what's coming to the EU: an economical meltdown. Le Pen is against the Euro and illegal mass immigration and this movement is gaining momentum
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44 sats \ 5 replies \ @398ja 10 Jun
Macron wants to demystify the RN before the next presidential elections in 2027, knowing well that there's no way this inexperienced protest party can have any success with their socialist policies at fixing the current mess he's created over the years.
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That's interesting. It reminds of when the Republicans allowed the Green New Deal come up for a vote. It was such bad legislation that most of its sponsors voted against it.
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We needed to hearings before voting!
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @TomK OP 10 Jun
This is an interesting thought
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Actually, not my analysis. I read it here (sorry, in French): https://www.contrepoints.org/2024/06/09/475843-europeennes-le-retour-de-la-politique
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Hard not to agree…
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33 sats \ 1 reply \ @TomK OP 9 Jun
Until then, we can continue to enjoy the friendly smiles of Ursula von der Leyen and Christine Lagarde.
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….smiling piranha slowly nibbling away at a disintergrating corpse…
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Until then, we can continue to enjoy the friendly smiles of Ursula von der Leyen and Christine Lagarde.
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