The process of making foreign policy decisions in the Fifth Republic under the neo-hollists (J. Chirac and N. Sarkozy)

In the article the author looks upon the process of adopting decisions of external policy in France during the presidency of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. It’s necessary to note that the main institutions participating in the process and their roles were formed during the presidency of the founder of the gaullist movement that the presidents also adjust themselves to. According to the tradition of decision-making the president plays a vital role in the process although the Constitution doesn’t directly speak about this role of the Head of State and also includes the Prime minister and the Gouvernment, the legislative. In the provisions of the 5th article of the French Constitution according to which the president is the guarantor of the national soveriegnity and unity of the state. The external policy is “mainly presidential (“par excellence” in French). During the decades and due to several “cohabitations” (the situation when the president and the prime minister are from different political parties) the Prime minister also started to play a significant role in the process making decisions on some of the foreign policy issues. For example, during the first presidential mandate of Jacques Chirac the president had for 5 years a “cohabitation” government and the Prime minister L. Jospen also participated in the process of adopting decisions of external policy. Besides, as a result of a Constitutional reform of 2008 adopted by N. Sarkozy, the legislative power gained more power in the process of controling the executive. Nevertheless, the president still plays the key role in the process elaborating the main vectors of the development of external policy of the country relying on the advisers in the Cabinet of the President, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The minister of Foreign Affairs mostly is concerned with the executing the adopted decisions and trying to find the balance between the position of the President and the Prime minister rarely being independent. A distinctive feature of the research is the fact that it was based mostly on foreign sources such as the constitution of the Fifth republic, the reserch of eminent French historians of international relations and foreign policy of France treating the question (Vaisse M., Cohen S.). There were also analysed the statements of Jacques Chirac, the Minister of Foreign Affairs H. Vedrine. Moreover, the research is based on the materials of the French media (le Monde, le Figaro) that covers the external policy events and presents the expert’s analysis.

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