The political crisis in France is not institutional in nature. The founders of the Fifth Republic took great care to ensure that the system met the requirements of a wellfunctioning democracy. The lack of a political majority in the National Assembly is a consequence of the crisis of the party system and has emerged despite the existence of well-developed constitutional safeguards and electoral rules. In the current state of the party system, a departure from presidentialism, or rather a return to the parliamentary system known from the Third and Fourth Republics, poses a risk to the stability and decision-making power of the system. Therefore, I am critical of the part of the reform package that provides for the transfer of power from the president to the prime minister. However, it can be argued that constitutional changes strengthening direct democracy and forms of civic participation will give momentum to French democracy and may force reforms within the political parties themselves.