France

French tricolor

**France**, officially known as the **French Republic**, is a transcontinential nation-state on Earth. Its metropolitian territory is located in Western Europe, stretching from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Swizterland, Italy, Monacco, Spain, and Andorra. Its overseas territories borders the countries of Suriname, Brazil, and the Netherlands. France's capital and largest city is Paris.

France is one of Earth's most powerful nations, being a founding member of United Nations, the Terran Alliance, and a member of the Council of Five.

## History

France is Earth's oldest country to date, starting out as a powerful but decentralized feudal kingdom during the Middle Ages. The Kingdom of France saw combat with the English during the Hundred Years War, during which the French identity was formed among its people. France's monarchy was eventually abolished during the French Revolution, in which it was replaced with one of Earth's first modern-day republics.

France ultimately reached political and military zenith under Emperor Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars. The conflict shpaed much of modern-day Europe. Napoloen's removal and the return of the monarchy saw a decline in French power until the republic was restored in 1870. France later fought in both the First and Second World Wars, the latter of whihc it was occupied by Nazi Germany. Following liberation, the repbulic was restored under Charles de Gaulle.

## Politics and Government

The **politics of France** take place with the framework of a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic". The constitution provides for a separation of powers and proclaims France's "attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of National Sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789".

The political system of France consists of an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. Executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic and the Government. The Government consists of the Prime minister and ministers. The Prime minister is appointed by the president, and is responsible to Parliament. The government, including the Prime minister, can be revoked by the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, through a motion of no-confidence; this ensures that the Prime minister is practically always supported by a majority in the lower house (which, on most topics, has prominence over the upper house).

Parliament consists of the National Assembly and the Senate. It passes statutes and votes on the budget; it controls the action of the executive through formal questioning on the floor of the houses of Parliament and by establishing commissions of inquiry. The constitutionality of the statutes is checked by the Constitutional Council, members of which are appointed by the President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, and the President of the Senate. Former Presidents of the Republic can also be members of the Council if they want to (Valéry Giscard-d’Estaing and Jacques Chirac were the only former Presidents that participated into the council's work).

The independent judiciary is based upon civil law system which evolved from the Napoleonic Codes. It is divided into the judicial branch (dealing with civil law and criminal law) and the administrative branch (dealing with appeals against executive decisions), each with their own independent supreme court of appeal: the Court of Cassation for the judicial courts and the *Conseil d'Etat* for the administrative courts. The French government includes various bodies that check abuses of power and independent agencies.

While France is a unitary state, its administrative subdivisions—regions, departments and communes—have various legal functions, and the national government is prohibited from intruding into their normal operations. France was a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community, later the European Union. As such, France has transferred part of its sovereignty to European institutions, as provided by its constitution. The French government therefore has to abide by European treaties, directives and regulations.

## Military

The **French Armed Forces** (French: *Forces armées françaises*) are the military forces of France. The armed forces consists of four military branches: the Army, Navy, Air and Space Force and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military reserve force. As stipulated by France's constitution, the president of France serves as commander-in-chief of the French military. France has the eighth largest defence budget in the world and the second largest in the European Union (EU). It also has the largest military by size in the EU.

The French military has atleast 1,000,000 strong force of Men and Women in their ranks with an additional 3,000,000 reserve troops ready to defend Earth in case of any attacks, making them as the 8th largest forces in the Terran Armed Forces.

## Appearances

* Rise of the Terran Alliance
* The Terran Alliance: A Changing World
* The Terran Alliance Strikes Back
* Return of the Terran Alliance

## See also:

* United States of America
* United Kingdom
* Germany
* Russia
* Soviet Union