The search for a new prime minister becomes urgent seven weeks after France held early legislative elections.
He France’s political headache is far from resolved. President Emmanuel Macron relaunched this Tuesday a new round of talks with various political groups in the hope of forming a new Government.
Representatives of the independent centrist group LIOT were consulted on Tuesday. The conservative right-wing party, recently renamed ‘The Republican Right’, will speak with the president on Wednesday.
The left-wing coalition, New Popular Front (NFP), which won the largest number of seats in the early elections but fell short of a majority, has refused to participate in the talks in progress. On Monday night, Macron again rejected the NFP candidate for prime minister, civil servant and economist Lucie Castets.
Why have you ruled out a left-wing government?
In a statement, the leader affirmed that a left-wing government would threaten “institutional stability”, since would not survive a vote of confidence in the Assembly National, the lower house of Parliament. Politicians from the center, right and extreme right have announced that they will try to overthrow any government chaired by the left.
“The work continues and the door is open,” said Emmanuel Macron before receiving the Irish prime minister, Simon Harrisat the Elysée Palace on Tuesday evening. The French president also said he would welcome “all those who wish to continue working for the good of the country.”
The extreme left threatens an impeachment
There is no legal requirement that Macron appoint a prime minister from the party that won the most seats, but the NFP has insisted that the candidate must come from their ranks because it is the largest group.
The far-left party France Insoumise (LFI), which has been isolated and labeled extremist by Macron and other parties, announced that it will start a dismissal procedure against the head of state. LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard called Macron’s comments an “unacceptable anti-democratic coup” and called for protests on September 7.
In a sign of fractured opinion on the left, Pierre Jouvet, secretary general of the Socialist Party, said his supporters They do not plan to participate in protestsand hinted that they were open to further discussions with the president.
“We are not calling on people to take to the streets at the moment,” Jouvet said in an interview with ‘France Info’. “The urgency is in the debate, in the political discussion, although Emmanuel Macron’s decision worries us deeply“.
But with the impending opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on Wednesday night and Macron’s visit to Serbia at the end of the week, the appointment of the future prime minister is increasingly urgent.
The resigned government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has been 40 days in officea situation unprecedented since the postwar. The clock is ticking as the national budget plan for 2025 must be presented to Parliament by October 1.
The absence of a dominant political bloc is unprecedented in France’s recent political history, and it appears that the country heading towards a blank Parliamentsince none of the three existing ones want to form a coalition.
