The rush to form a government in France is coming up against a reality that neighbouring countries more adept at forging coalitions know all too well: time is needed. The French left, which continues to claim its right to take the first step as the force with the most deputies in the new National Assembly – although far from a minimally stable majority – is approaching its self-imposed deadline of one week (since the elections of July 7) without having managed to agree on a name to propose as prime minister. Amidst tough internal disputes, the progressive bloc advocates extending the negotiations.
Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron has already returned from Washington, where he attended the NATO summit, and is preparing to make his first public appearances since the election. They will be in the context of the celebrations of Bastille Day, the national holiday, on Sunday. Meanwhile, the other forces continue their calculations for seats while threatening the left-wing bloc with immediate votes of no confidence if it forms a government alone.
The accounts of one and the other continue not to add up, while they continue to ignore the call to forge a “solid, necessarily plural majority” that the president made in his Letter to the French published just as he was traveling to the Alliance summit in the US capital.
After a week of intense but fruitless meetings, the leader of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, tried to put the deadlines of the New Popular Front (NFP) into perspective: “It is normal that it takes time, we are trying to form a coalition in a country that has no culture of doing so. And we are trying to do things well,” she said on radio station RMC. On another set, the national coordinator of the radical left-wing party France Insoumise (LFI), Manuel Bompard, also refused to “set a deadline” because “more time may be needed for discussion.”
The toughest battle continues to be between LFI and the Socialist Party (PS). Both parties are demanding that the Prime Minister’s name be removed from their ranks. On the PS side, the name that is most frequently mentioned is that of its general secretary, Olivier Faure.
Veto to Mélenchon
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The insubordinate They have presented up to four proposals. Including, once again, that of their controversial leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, despite the explicit refusal from the beginning by the other formations of the alliance – socialists, communists and ecologists – to this possibility, aware of the rejection that his figure arouses. It would be, they fear, a brake on possible support from other parliamentary groups for their government proposal. Something necessary because the NFP is more than 100 seats away from an absolute majority and there are many voices from the other formations that have already warned that they will overthrow with an immediate motion of censure a government not only led, but even made up of LFI.
This has been pointed out in recent hours by the far right of the National Rally (RN), which is extending its veto to a government also made up of environmentalists, to the traditional right of the Republicans. A good part of the Macronist forces are also rejecting the possibility, including the still Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, who is hoping this Saturday to become the president of his parliamentary group, Renaissance.
In an attempt to unblock the negotiations, the leader of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, proposed on Friday the name of Huguette Bello, president of the regional council of La Réunion, as an alternative to break the deadlock. The several-time MP for left-wing parties is a politician “respected” by all, he said.
While the Left continues its discussions, Macron has brought together the top leaders of his party on Friday. At the “tense” meeting at the Elysée, according to several French media,He has lamented the “disastrous image” of lack of unity shown by his ranks in the last week and has criticized the public rivalry of several of his ministers with ambitions for the presidential elections of 2027, in which the current tenant of the Elysée will no longer be able to stand. “I will still be here in a month,” he told them, reiterating his intention not to resign, according to the daily. The Parisian“But if you start the 2027 campaign now, you will be swept away,” he warned them.
In the shorter term, Macron has also agreed to Attal’s formal resignation after the Council of Ministers on Tuesday 16th. The still prime minister had already submitted his resignation on Monday, after the second round on Sunday in which the Macronist ranks lost their majority and came second, with 168 deputies. But Macron rejected his resignation and asked him to continue “for the moment” to “ensure the stability of the country.”
The problem is that Macronism needs all its forces when the new National Assembly meets for the first time on Thursday 18th. That will be when the struggle for the distribution of posts will begin, including the presidency of the hemicycle, where the correlation of forces that emerged from the legislative elections will be seen for the first time. And the diminished Macronist forces cannot do without the 17 members of the current cabinet who have renewed their seats. Hence the need for the Government to formally resign before, since both positions are incompatible.
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