The Government of France
Overview
- Capital: Paris
- Administrative regions: 18 regions — 13 metropolitan regions plus 5 overseas regions (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, and Mayotte)
- Government & legal system: Semi-presidential unitary republic (the Fifth Republic, established by the 1958 Constitution); civil law system in the Napoleonic Code tradition. The President is head of state and is directly elected; the Prime Minister is head of government, appointed by the President but accountable to the National Assembly. (government site)
- Head of state / government: Emmanuel Macron, President (since 2017, currently in his second term, which runs to 2027); Sébastien Lecornu, Prime Minister (head of government — appointed September 2025, briefly resigned, and was reappointed in October 2025 amid a period of significant political instability) (official page)
- Official language(s): French (official)
- National Day: July 14 (Bastille Day, marking the 1789 storming of the Bastille and the 1790 Fête de la Fédération)
- Independence: Not a colonial-independence case; the current Fifth Republic was established by the Constitution of October 4, 1958
- Other official holidays: Victory in Europe Day (May 8), Labor Day (May 1), Armistice Day (Nov 11)
- Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (official site)
- Regional / international memberships: UN (permanent Security Council member), European Union, NATO, G7, G20, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/ OECD, Council of Europe
- Visa / entry requirements: Schengen visa rules apply for non-EU/EEA visitors; France’s official visa portal handles applications for short- and long-stay visas. (visa info)
- Currency: Euro (EUR, shared EU currency) — France’s euro coins carry national designs, most often Marianne (the personification of the French Republic) or the ‘Semeuse’ (the Sower) motif; banknotes use the common EU designs rather than country-specific imagery.
- Flag symbolism: Vertical blue-white-red tricolor (Le Drapeau Tricolore) — blue and red are the traditional colors of the city of Paris, and white, representing the monarchy, was added during the French Revolution to symbolize the union of King and people; together the colors have come to represent liberty, equality, and fraternity.
