France has often been characterised as a somewhat more benign, western version of the old Soviet Union. The president, like his Soviet counterpart, sits at the centre of a web of intrigue. His authority places him far above all other political leaders.
The prime minister – currently Elisabeth Borne – takes instructions from Emmanuel Macron much as Alexei Kosygin, as chairman of both the Soviet Council of Ministers and the Committee on the Operational Management of the Economy, followed the orders of Leonid Brezhnev throughout the 1960s and ’70s.
