Editorial. The ghost of dissolution hangs over the Élysée Palace once again.

One year after the 2024 dissolution, Emmanuel Macron can once again dissolve the National Assembly. The President of the Republic maintains the vagueness surrounding this decision, which remains a risky and unpopular option, despite it being his ultimate lever of power.

A year later, Emmanuel Macron regained the power to dissolve the National Assembly on Tuesday, July 8. Will he use it and do it again? The President of the Republic is careful not to answer this question, but he has regained his charm. Dissolution remains a weapon of deterrence. Its purpose is not to be used, but to prevent. The President of the Republic, more than anyone else, likes to catch people off guard. A year ago, on this now fateful June 9, 2024, almost no one was in the loop. The Head of State rejoiced as much in dissolving as in surprising his world. He didn't yet know that the hunter becomes the hunted.

Today, Emmanuel Macron maintains ambiguity because it is the only power he has left. To openly renounce it would be like surrendering, putting himself at the mercy of a political class eager to turn the page, eager to turn its page. So, the president soberly brandishes the threat, as when he explained in early June that he is not in the habit of depriving himself of a constitutional power, and that "if political parties decided (…) to block the country," he could resort to it, but that "that is not his wish."

Beyond regaining the omnipotence of his now Jupiterian ancestor, Emmanuel Macron could, with a new dissolution, be tempted to emerge from this great political depression with a government that is tearing itself apart, a fragmented Assembly, consumed by calculations and improbable alliances, and major reforms at a standstill. He may also want to regain his power to appoint the Prime Minister, in the face of a François Bayrou who irritates him, a Prime Minister who would do nothing, not even what the President asks of him.

In practice, Emmanuel Macron has little interest in dissolving the government. Electing a new assembly might not change anything. It's hard to imagine the president wanting to plunge back into the violence of criticism and the consequences of a year ago, with these furious and bewildered French people, politicians, and big business leaders all mixed up.

Instead of bringing, as he promised, "clarification" and fighting against "precarious arrangements and solutions" , Emmanuel Macron has reaped an interminable crisis, with the image of a country that is deteriorating, markets that are panicking, and a self-proclaimed anti-RN president who serves as his stepping stone. There is no magical dissolution that would erase the consequences of the first.

The polls are disastrous for the President of the Republic, just as they were a year ago. Emmanuel Macron has no interest in dissolving the government again. Perhaps this is what should be worrying, given his propensity to want to appear where he is least expected.