French President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday inaugurated the committee charged with overseeing the modernization and restoration of the country's institutions.
The committee to be chaired by former prime minister Edouard Balladur is made up of 10 personalities drawn from divergent political backgrounds, experts on policy and legal matters such as Jack Lang, a socialist parliamentarian and former assistant culture minister.
The committee is tasked with studying constitutional amendments to be carried out and examining other proposals for the reform of state institutions. The committee must submit its report to the president at least by November.
In a speech last week, President Sarkozy sought to outline his main ideas for the reforms, notably the possibility for the head of state to address parliament at least once annually, presidential term limits, status of the opposition and introduction of some measure of proportional representation in the election of parliamentarians and senators.
This week, the president started consultations with leaders from different political parties on the reform of the state institutions.
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