Paul Cascia: “The executive branch is knowingly undermining the rule of law, which needs to be protected more than ever.”

has 65-year-old V^e République is more functional than ever. It even underwent real changes throughout 2023, during which, due to the presidential majority in the National Assembly, provisions for new or less used constitutional and parliamentary procedures were implemented to adopt two major reform forceps – to increase. The legal retirement age of 64 and the immigration law – Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term.

In a heated and sometimes immature parliamentary atmosphere, these two texts are adopted, of course, according to the procedures provided for in the constitution, but without a proper debate between the representatives of national sovereignty and even without a vote. Pension reform.

Regardless of their content, the terms of their adoption caricature the authoritarian superiority of the executive power – actually only the President of the Republic – over other constitutional powers – the Parliament and the judiciary – which is no less paradoxical when we consider that the author of the campaign works revolution (XO, 2016) was committed to reforming institutions and practices.

disastrous consequences

The results, in terms of trust in national public decision-makers, are devastating and reflect the growing anachronism of the confusion of powers organized by the 1958 Constitution, another symbol of which in 2023 will be the verdict of the current Minister of Justice. by the Court of Justice of the Republic, consisting of four-fifths of parliamentarians who are his opponents or his political allies.

Now it is joined by another sequence that reveals the superiority of the legal crisis over the political and moral crises: the executive branch willingly, knowingly, openly violates the rule of law, which still needs to be protected more than ever, especially in view of the deteriorating international context.

This systematic undertaking of destruction, under the guise of unattainable absolute security of persons and property, or total control of immigration, is certainly not new; However, it continues to grow in the modern period, always with results contrary to those announced.

It is being built from the Elysée, Matignon and Place Beauvois, with the unanimous voices of the highest authorities of the state, who called on Parliament to pass the law on immigration, presented as the main shield for the maintenance of public order, admitting that it contains provisions “The exact opposite” (Gerald Darmanin) on the constitutional rights and freedoms that must be ensured by the public authorities, independently of any appeal to the Constitutional Council.