Macron
hoping new round of talks can break French government deadlock
President to
meet party and parliamentary leaders this week for ‘series of exchanges’ in
effort to end stalemate
Kim Willsher
in Paris
Mon 19 Aug
2024 13.36 CEST
Emmanuel
Macron is to meet French party and parliamentary leaders this week for
negotiations to break the political deadlock over who should form a new
government.
France has
been led by a caretaker administration since the July general election failed
to leave any party with a working majority in the national assembly.
After
Macron’s centrist government resigned, the Olympics offered the president a
brief window to put domestic politics on hold for what he called a “truce”, but
more than a week after the Games closed, critics have accused him of playing
for time.
He will hold
what presidential aides have described as “a series of exchanges” on Friday to
end the stalemate.
“The
appointment of a prime minister will follow on from these consultations and
their conclusions,” the Élysée Palace said, adding that the French people had
“expressed a wish for change and broad unity”. It said the president hoped “to
continue to move towards the constitution of the broadest and most stable
majority possible in the service of the country”.
The New
Popular Front (NFP) centrist and leftwing alliance saw off the threat of the
far-right National Rally (RN) in the second round of the July legislative
election, which left the lower house of parliament divided into three roughly
equal blocks.
NFP has put
forward Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist and director of financial
affairs at Paris City Hall, as its choice for prime minister. Macron, who as
president has the right to appoint a government leader, has agreed she should
be present for the discussions but has already ruled her out for the post.
“The
question is not a name. The question is what majority can emerge in the
assembly,” he said.
NFP, which
gained the most seats in the 577-seat assembly, has said any new prime minister
should come from its ranks. After Macron’s rejection of Castets, the hard-left
France Unbowed (LFI) has threatened to impeach Macron, a move that is unlikely
to succeed and has been described as a distraction by other parties in the
leftwing coalition.
The move was
rejected by Olivier Faure, the leader of the Socialist party, LFI’s leading
coalition partner, and by the acting interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, who
said the attempt at impeachment showed the hard left’s wish to “plunge France
into anarchy”.
Manuel
Bompard of LFI said impeachment was “a credible possibility”. “But it’s a
warning … we would prefer he name Lucie Castets as the head of government,” he
added.
Several
names have emerged as possible candidates, including the rightwing Brexit
negotiator Michel Barnier, the former minister Xavier Bertrand, also from the
right, and the former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
Macron has
been counting on riding a feelgood wave following the success of the Paris
Games, after a 1 August poll suggested his popularity and that of the caretaker
prime minister, Gabriel Attal, had risen by two percentage points.
The French
political historian Jean Garrigues said he doubted there would be an Olympic
bounce for Macron and that any benefit the president gained would be temporary.
“The French tend to credit the success of the Olympic Games more to the
athletes and organisers, such as Tony Estanguet, than to the politicians,”
Garrigues told France24.
“This is
fairly revealing of the rejection to which the president has been subjected in
recent months. We’re in a very tense political climate for which many people
hold him responsible. As soon as reality sets in, he will once again find
himself at the centre of controversy and tension.”
Macron is
under pressure to appoint a new prime minister before the opening of the
Paralympic Games on 28 August.
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