In Les Leçons d'une guerre ("Lessons from A War", 2023), François Heisbourg analyzes the first year of fighting following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In the wake of the dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale, the special adviser to London's International Institute for Strategic Studies discusses the French president's responsibilities, which have extended beyond foreign affairs and defense to include intelligence. In Heisbourg's view, the situation accentuates the risk of conflict on sensitive issues in the event of cohabitation, when the prime minister and the president come from different political camps, following the parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7.

Traditionally, there are two reserved domains, one that exists formally and in reality, defense, and the other that exists in reality but not formally, foreign affairs. The latter is a practice instituted by [President Charles] de Gaulle at the start of the Fifth Republic, but not a constitutional obligation. The way in which our foreign action is conducted depends on an agreement between the head of state and the head of government, even if the French and our partners have been accustomed for 65 years now to the fact that it is the president of the Republic and not the prime minister who embodies it.

However, during the three previous cohabitations, our European partners accepted that France should be represented at Brussels summits by both president and prime minister. It remains to be seen whether they will tolerate a new version of this singular practice, this time for the benefit of a prime minister from the Rassemblement National [RN, far-right].

According to the Constitution, the French president is the head of the armed forces. He relies on a Defense and National Security Council, a body provided for in the Constitution, and on a special chief of the general staff, whom he has chosen and who acts as a link with the chief of the general staff and thus the armed forces. Since the operational implementation of the deterrent force in 1964, everything to do with nuclear weapons has been linked to this. But while the president is the head of the armed forces, the prime minister is responsible for the general organization of defense, under the January 7, 1959, decree. This creates potential overlap and friction during periods of cohabitation, particularly given the role of the General Secretariat for National Defense and Security, which is attached to the prime minister's office.

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