French President Emmanuel Macron was on Friday due to pick a head of government to lift the country out of political crisis, with allies irritated he could rename the same prime minister who quit earlier this week.
French politics has been deadlocked ever since Macron gambled last year on snap polls that he hoped would consolidate power — but ended instead in a hung parliament and more seats for the far right.
Macron was due to meet with leaders of all political parties apart from the far-right National Rally (RN) and the radical left France Unbowed party at 1230 GMT on Friday at the presidential palace, informed sources told AFP.
Shortly before the meeting, the presidency in a statement called on all parties to recognise the “moment of collective responsibility”, appearing to imply he could dissolve parliament if they did not rally behind his preferred candidate.
Macron’s office said he would pick a name by Friday evening after his seventh prime minister Sebastien Lecornu, 39, threw in the towel on Monday following months of stalemate over an austerity budget.
The centrist president, facing the worst domestic crisis of his presidency since 2017, has yet to address the public.
Lecornu, a Macron loyalist, agreed to stay on for two extra days to talk to all political parties and told French television late Wednesday that he was optimistic that a new cabinet could get a spending bill through parliament.
Parliament toppled Lecornu’s two predecessors in a standoff over cost-cutting measures.
Lecornu, who served three years as defence minister, offered no clue about who the next premier would be.
He claimed his mission was finished, but several politicians believe the president would likely rename him, at the risk of further exasperating the opposition and even members of his own camp.
Fellow centrist Gabriel Attal, who was France’s youngest prime minister until last year, urged Macron on Friday to “share power” and not to name someone close to him.
Others have suggested that Jean-Louis Borloo, a former minister under right-wing presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, could be a potential candidate, but he said he knew nothing of the plan.
It seemed unlikely that a left-wing premier would be named, despite calls from the main left-wing parties on Thursday evening to include them in government.
The names of two Socialists had been floated: ex-prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve, as well as the head of the country’s supreme audit institution, Pierre Moscovici.
– No ‘ambitions’ –
Lecornu has said a revised draft budget for 2026 could be put forward on Monday, which would meet the deadline for its approval by the end of the year.
But it was not immediately clear if this would require a fresh cabinet lineup to be announced by the weekend or not.
Lecornu’s suggested list of ministers on Sunday sparked criticism that it contained too many of the same faces and did not break enough with the past.
Lecornu on Wednesday suggested that a more technocratic government could be named, whose members should have no “ambitions” to stand in the 2027 presidential elections.
The escalating crisis has seen former allies criticise the president.
In an unprecedented move, former premier Edouard Philippe, a contender in the next presidential elections, earlier this week said Macron himself should step down after a budget was passed.
But Macron has always insisted he would stay until the end of his term.
Marine Le Pen, whose far-right party declined to take part in talks with Lecornu this week, said she would thwart all action by any new government and would “vote against everything”.
Le Pen’s anti-immigration RN senses its best-ever chance of winning power in the 2027 presidential elections, with Macron having served the maximum two terms.
Le Pen has been barred from running after being convicted in a corruption case, but her 30-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella could be a candidate instead.
burs-ah/as/cc
