French President Emmanuel Macron will convene party leaders for talks next week, his office said Friday, in an effort to break the political deadlock and form a government after early elections.
Weeks after parliamentary elections in which the National Assembly failed to secure a clear majority in the lower house, France still has no new prime minister.
Macron said in July that he wanted to appoint a new prime minister after the Paris Olympics, which end on August 11. He stressed that parties in a divided parliament must first come together to form a broad coalition.
While the successful Olympics have put an end to the gloomy mood in France, analysts say it is far from certain that this will improve Macron’s uncertain future.
On Friday, the Élysée presidential palace said Macron has invited party leaders to take part in “a series of talks” on August 23, with the aim of trying to form a government.
“The appointment of a prime minister will follow these consultations and their conclusions,” the presidency said in a statement.
The French people had expressed “a desire for change and broad unity,” the statement said.
“In a spirit of responsibility, all political leaders must work to make this wish a reality,” said the Élysée, which hoped that the consultations would contribute to “the broadest and most stable majority possible”.
The left-wing New Popular Front, which became the largest party after the elections, wants 37-year-old economist Lucie Castets to become the new prime minister.
At the end of July, Macron had already rejected the left-wing alliance’s attempt to appoint a new prime minister.
But the left-wing bloc will continue to push for Castets’ appointment as prime minister at next week’s meeting, Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI), the largest player in the left-wing alliance, said on X on Friday.
– Enjoying the Olympic Games –
Macron is prepared to receive Castets, a little-known senior official, during talks next week, a member of the president’s team told AFP.
“The president is obviously not against this if it is a collective request,” the source said.
Macron’s forces are said to favor an alliance with the traditional right and a section of the center-left. The name of former minister and current head of the northern Hauts de France region, Xavier Bertrand, is often mentioned as a candidate to lead a centrist coalition.
Macron has ruled out a role in the government of the far-left France Unbowed or the far-right camp of Marine Le Pen in a new coalition.
The government of his allies, led by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, has been given a temporary appointment.
In June, Macron shocked the nation by dissolving parliament and calling early elections. Seats in the 577-member assembly are now divided into three blocs of similar size.
Any French government must be able to survive a vote of confidence in the Chamber, otherwise it risks immediate expulsion.
Interim Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said political uncertainty was hurting the economy and observers expect approval of the 2025 budget this fall to be challenging.
“Macron is counting on the aftermath of the successful Paris Olympics to help him,” said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at Eurasia Group.
“The key is to convince some in the centre-left and the centre-right that the new prime minister is there to save France, not to save Macron.”
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