Prancūzijos V respublikos valdymo modelis – mišrios (pusiau prezidentinės) respublikos etalonas
Governmental Model of French Fifth Republic as the Standard for a Semi-Presidential Republic

Summary/Abstract: This article investigates the traits of the French Fifth Republic constitutional system and reviews the essential aspects of the 1958 French Constitution and reveals the impact of the recent amendments to the Constitution (2008) and the situation of the constitutional regulation. A lot of attention is paid to interdependent relations between the governing institutions of the Republic of France that play a major role in determining the model of state government. The main aspects of a semi-presidential model of a republic are revealed. In legal literature, the current French Constitution is referred to as the Constitution of the Fifth Republic of France. It has been enacted by national referendum in 1958. It is the seventeenth Constitution since 1789 that has established a twenty second political regime. At first the Constitution consisted of three documents: the 1958 French Constitution, the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the Preamble to the 1946 French Constitution. The Constitutional law of 1 March 2005 added yet another legal document, i.e. the Charter of the Environmental Protection. French Fifth Republic is considered a frame of reference for a mixed (semi-presidential) republic. The sequence of the chapters of the Constitution reveal the importance of the relevant governmental institutions within the Constitutional model of the Republic of France. This is a characteristic feature of the French Constitution, where priority is given to various provisions relating the President followed by the authority of Government and the legal position of the Parliament. The executive power has a dominant role in the overall system of Government, which is yet another feature of this Constitution. Some of the more important powers vested into the Government are alegislative initiative and a delegated legislature which is exercised through enactment of ordinances with a legal power equivalent to acts of law. This provision of the Constitution demonstrates a rather strong power of the executive within the system of the governmental institutions. The Constitution has been subject to multiple changes during the period of the French Fifth Republic. The recent changes were adopted in 2008. Irrespective of these changes, the principal features of the Constitution such as the principles of democracy, governmental model of institutions have not been subject to radical changes. Yet, in general, one can observe the relative growth in importance of the Parliament and the Government as collective body of governing. French Constitution is also special in other respects. For instance, it contains an institute for organic laws, features of human rights catalogue, the Constitutional Council with a power of constitutional supervision, etc.

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