> the sole real seat of power is the office of the presidency
is plainly wrong. The president still can lose their majority in parliament, they still can have an hostile prime minister, and they still don’t control the judges. There are many examples of the 3 powers slipping away from the president at various times after De Gaulle. A minority president is also becoming more and more likely as the candidates struggle and the parties keep shooting themselves in their respective feet. Not a great start.
> The key difference of course is that in the US the President cannot dissolve Congress at his or her leisure.
Dissolving the parliament, whilst a possibility, is politically very risky and quite often works against whoever is doing the dissolving (there are many historical examples in France and elsewhere). It is a threat, but a hollow one. It is quite similar to the motions of non confidence in that respect.
> It was the last time a French parliament truly exercised its powers, on the cusp of losing them all.
The parliament, of course, did not do itself any favour with the constant bickering, instability, and general ineffectiveness in the couple of years and decades before that point. Not that long before that parliament itself committed democratic suicide with Pétain. It’s a bit hypocritical to lament the shifting of the political centre of gravity in the context.
> People know it is the only election that really matters, and they use it as an opportunity to count themselves, that is, the relative size and power of their parties or factions, and yes, to protest.
This is also very debatable. Of course, some people think this, and it is reinforced by the popularity contest that the presidential elections have become. However, the cabinet is responsible for most policies, and who ends up there is determined by the legislative elections. The cabinet is useless only when act as the president’s foot soldiers, but they don’t necessarily have to.
Anyway. The article mixes interesting takes and information with questionable interpretations.