Like many french political bodies, the Conseil d’Etat is located in a palace, le Palais Royal to be exact. Unlike the Supreme Court of the United States, the Conseil d’Etat has the triple duty role of advising, judging and managing.

At the Conseil d’Etat, we met up with Terry Olson, a delegate of international relations at the Conseil d’Etat and he talked to us about the history of the 3rd, 4th and 5th French Republics, the history of the past presidents and the role of the Conseil d’Etat of the past and the present.

What I found to be the most interesting was on the topic of the upcoming presidential elections. Whenever we have had the opportunity to discuss the elections, we have been told that it is primarily internal affairs that are of concern for presidential elections. I found this to be most interesting because of all of the focus that is put on international relations and affairs for the US presidential elections.

According to Terry Olson, the first level of concerns involves the redistribution of money and taxes; social protection such as retirement, social security and unemployment; as well as security and immigration. The second level and more distant concerns are centered on the question of European governance and the role of the central European bank. Such a different perspective will no doubt come into play when thinking about the direction of growth for the European union as a whole.

~Ashlee G.