ABSTRACT
Interpretations of the hybrid French executive created by the 1958 constitution have been legion. Underpinning most appreciations is the belief that, since de Gaulle, the Fifth Republic’s executive has been centred around a strong directly-elected President. The presidency has acted as the key element of systemic legitimacy, which provides a measure of coherence to an otherwise obfuscated set of institutional arrangements. Relations between presidents and prime ministers have been the subject of many rather simplistic assessments, which betray a complex reality. No single model can account for the complexity of the presidential–prime ministerial relationship, which is simultaneously conflictual and cooperative, routine and non-static. There is effectively a perennial and institutionalised tension between the Elysee and Matignon. French Presidents are assisted by their own presidential staff in the General Secretariat of the Elysee (SGE). Under Mitterrand, the size of the Elysee staff remained roughly comparable with that bequeathed by de Gaulle, Pompidou and Giscard.
