Hey, er, French people?

[Oddsock]

Hi yall.

 

For my Comparative Government class, I have been tasked with giving my opinion on which is more powerful: The French President, or Prime Minister. I was given a web page to research but the link doesn't work

 

I thought to ask any French GTAF members what they feel and if maybe they can give me some insight that I might miss in researching Wikipedia Thanks a ton in advance!

[Robinski]

I'm afraid I can't really offer any deep intellectual insight, what with not being French or that interested in their political system. But I can give you something:

 

Mrs Carl Bruni-Sarkozy:

 

Mr and Mrs Brown:

 

You tell me.

[Fnorg]

Funny how it's an American asking the French for help.

 

But yeah, no deep intellectual insight here either.

[LCSurvivor]

According to Wikipedia, the French government works as follows:

 

 

 

"...power is divided between two officials: the President, who is the head of state, and the Prime Minister, who is the head of government."

 

All you need is in this link.

Edited March 14, 2010 by LCSurvivor

[Svip]

So basically the president is the man who deals with foreign affairs and military? While the prime minister actually gets to do the legislative process? I'd say the prime minister is more powerful, from a technical point of view, but since the president can fire him at any moment, he usually becomes a puppet for the president's intentions, so I assume in practical terms, the president is more powerful, though not by law.

 

If you catch my drift.

[Oddsock]

Funny how it's an American asking the French for help.

 

But yeah, no deep intellectual insight here either.

I'm just asking for an overview of their two highest executive positions, I'm not asking to get bailed out from a defeat at the hands of the Axis/Nazis/Vietnamese/anyone else. Oh, and about your sig, I just watched the first episode and loved it.

 

Thanks LCSurvivor and Svip, I appreciate it!

[General Goose]

I know the French President is pretty powerful, much more so then say, the Italian, German or Austrian Presidents (notice how we refer to French President in the news, but the other countries we refer to the Prime Minister). The Prime Minister is still pretty powerful though.

[Mister Pink]

So basically the president is the man who deals with foreign affairs and military? While the prime minister actually gets to do the legislative process? I'd say the prime minister is more powerful, from a technical point of view, but since the president can fire him at any moment, he usually becomes a puppet for the president's intentions, so I assume in practical terms, the president is more powerful, though not by law.

 

If you catch my drift.

This.

[Oddsock]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. Sometimes even on Wikipedia it's hard to get a good comparison/contrast.