Macron’s France is at a turning point

France is confronted by a serious social crisis, morphing into a grave political crisis, which could become a regime crisis.  

To be fair, political instability did not begin with Emmanuel Macron. It has been growing since 2000 when the presidential mandate was cut from seven to five years, rendering it coterminous with parliamentary elections and reducing the President of the Republic to little more than a super prime minister. But Macron has made things worse.  

Now at only the beginning of his second term he survives with a hung parliament, obliged to get his flagship pension legislation by executive order for fear of defeat. 

Where will this lead France in the next four years? Since 1789, France has had more changes of regime and more constitutions than any other democratic state. And of those 16 constitutions, the Fifth Republic has been the most consensual, albeit only since the 1980s. All other constitutions were under threat from parties or movements of the far left or right.