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French President Emmanuel Macron began meetings with political leaders from across the country on Friday with the aim of appointing a prime minister nearly seven weeks after an extraordinary legislative election that left parliament in a state of suspended parliament.
Macron meets with left, right and centre leaders at the Élysée Palace on Friday and Monday, starting with the left New front of the masses coalition and prime ministerial candidate Lucie Castets, a civil servant. But so far the president has indicated that he will not appoint her because she does not hold a majority in parliament.
“We had a very deep discussion,” Castets said Friday after the meeting. While Macron acknowledged the message voters sent last month when they stripped his coalition of a parliamentary majority, he still showed “the temptation to . . . form his own government,” she said.
“We told him that the political force that came to power, the NFP, would have to form a government,” she said, adding that she was ready to “build a coalition”.
Macron and his allies argue that the NFP — become the largest block in a snap election in July but still fell short of a majority in government — not enough support to govern.
Green Party leader Marine Tondelier pressed Macron on who would be appointed prime minister on Tuesday.
After meeting Macron, Laurent Wauquiez, a leading figure in the conservative Les Republicains party, said his MPs would not join any coalition and would vote against any government that included far-left ministers.
“We don’t believe in a coalition system where you bring together people who disagree, which leads to the deadlock we are in now,” Wauquiez said. He added that he believes the far-left La France Insoumise party, part of the NFP coalition, represents “a danger to our Republic.”
The president’s office said he would name a prime minister after talks, but did not give a specific timeline.
Some of the names being floated include former socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve and conservative politician Xavier Bertrand, according to insiders. There has also been media speculation that Karim Bouamrane, the socialist mayor of a Paris suburb, could be considered, although Élysée officials have said he will not be among the delegations meeting with the president.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s former foreign minister and Brexit negotiator, is also a potential candidate.
Outgoing Prime Minister Gabriel Attal resigned last month but stay as caregiver after a surprise vote called by Macron. But with the summer holidays coming to an end, the Paris Olympics over and the 2025 budget looming, pressure is mounting to form a new government.
The July poll significantly reduced the number of seats held by Macron’s centrist coalition. But according to an Élysée official, the takeaway from the vote was that “no coalition can win a majority”.
“It is necessary for these political forces and political leaders to come to an agreement… Everyone is forced to change tactics and enter into a coalition logic,” they said.
But it’s a daunting task in France’s Fifth Republic, where experience with coalition politics is limited. Macron wants the “republican forces” — excluding Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National, which came in third, but also La France Insoumise — to find the largest and most stable majority possible, his office said.
Under the constitution, the president has sole power to appoint the prime minister, but Macron faces the complex question of identifying someone who can muster the support needed to run the country.
Allies in his camp had envisioned forming a coalition that would include the centre-left and right-wing Les Republicains. But so far the NFP has remained united despite growing tensions within the group, while some right-wing leaders have said they do not want to enter into a coalition with the left.
