French politics has been dominated from the Élysée Palace for decades by near-monarchical presidents, from Charles de Gaulle to François Mitterrand to today’s Emmanuel Macron. But another, older institution has unexpectedly now taken centre stage: the National Assembly.
Dating back to the French Revolution of 1789, the assembly is where French politics is likely to play out in the months ahead. It is to the fractious members of parliament at the Palais Bourbon on the left bank of the Seine that Macron must now turn to elicit support for any economic reforms or ambitious plans for European integration.
The assembly has been thrust back into the limelight by the inconclusive legislative election called by Macron in June, which produced no majority for any of the three big groups vying to form a government: the leftwing alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP), Macron’s centrists and the far right under Marine Le Pen.