PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron it is generally expected that the resignation of prime minister on Tuesday, while remaining at the head of an interim government.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal offered his resignation last week after a chaotic election results left the government in limbo. Macron asked him to temporarily remain as head of government pending a further decision, while France is about to be in the international spotlight as it Olympic Games in Paris.
According to French media, Macron is expected to formally accept the prime minister’s resignation on Tuesday evening.
The move would allow Attal to take his seat as a lawmaker in the National Assembly, the powerful lower house of the French government, and lead Macron’s group of centrist allies. It would also shield him from a potential vote of no confidence in parliament.
The opening session of the National Assembly is scheduled for Thursday.
The interim government led by Attal would focus solely on day-to-day operations.
There is no firm schedule yet for when Macron, who held a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, should appoint a new prime minister.
France was on the brink of a government crisis paralysis since National Assembly elections earlier this month resulted in a split between three major political groupings: the left-wing New Popular Front coalition, Macron’s centrist allies and Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National.
The new popular front won the most seats but failed to find an absolute majority to govern independently.
The three main parties of the left-wing coalition, the far-left France Unbent, the Socialists and the Greens, have called on the President to turn to them to form a new government, but their internal talks have escalated into a heated disagreement over who should be chosen as prime minister.
France Unbowed suspended the talks on Monday, accusing the Socialists of sabotaging the candidacy they have submitted to replace Attal.
Leader of the Socialist Party Olivier Fauré said Tuesday that the left-wing coalition “must think, talk and resume discussions” if it wants to meet “the expectations of the public” and keep its promise that it is “ready to govern”.
Faure acknowledged that long discussions, public bickering and occasional angry verbal exchanges between the coalition party leaders are “not a good look.” But “the stakes are so high that it is not unusual for us to talk for a long time and sometimes we shout,” Faure said on France Inter radio.
Rassemblement National vice-president Sebastien Chenu said the quarrels on the left are a sign that the New Popular Front “is not ready to govern.”
He also hit out at Macron on Tuesday, saying that keeping Attal at the helm of the government after two recent elections – for the European Parliament and the National Assembly – was “a denial of democracy”.
Keeping him to manage “current affairs” would amount to “abandoning” the French people, Chenu said in an interview with broadcasters Europe 1 and CNews.
“We cannot make something new out of something old,” Chenu said. “Attal must pack his bags, he and all his ministers.”
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Surk reported from Nice, France.
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