Overview
- Gabriel Attal published a detailed reform package in the Journal du Dimanche on August 2 that he calls “the largest institutional reform since 1958” and made it the core of his presidential campaign.
- Key proposals include an annual multi-question referendum day, cutting deputies from 577 to 350 and senators from 348 to 200, a constitutional rule forcing administrative replies within two months with silence counting as agreement, and letting the president appoint politically mandated heads of strategic posts.
- The platform pairs institutional change with policy moves such as deep judicial reform, numeric immigration quotas, a voluntary plan to remove 100,000 civil servants with severance pay, and replacing the legal retirement age with a universal system that includes capitalization.
- Rivals reacted quickly: David Lisnard accused Attal of copying at least 11 measures from his Nouvelle Énergie program, commentators flagged that referendums are now a shared centre-right theme, and analysts say the package will need either a national referendum or a three‑fifths parliamentary majority to amend the Constitution.
- If pursued in office the plans could speed permit and administrative decisions for citizens, shrink parliamentary representation, trigger legal challenges, and reshape patronage in top civil service posts, while also serving as an electoral gambit as Attal tries to close the gap with Édouard Philippe in the polls.