French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday (September 2, 2024) stepped up efforts to find a new prime minister after nearly two months of deadlock following inconclusive legislative elections that included two former presidents and two potential candidates.
France has been without a stable government since elections on July 7 in which the left was the largest bloc, with Mr Macron’s centrists and the far right among the other major groups.
Two potential candidates for prime minister – left-wing former prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve and right-wing former minister Xavier Bertrand – held separate meetings with Mr Macron.
It is traditional for the French president to consult his predecessors at moments of national importance, and Mr. Macron also met with two living former presidents — the right-wing Nicolas Sarkozy and the socialist Francois Hollande — at the Elysee presidential palace on Monday.
An Elysée source, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not rule out the possibility that a third candidate could emerge.
French Daily Le Monde The head of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) advisory body, Thierry Beaudet, 62, a total unknown to most French people, was also considered for the post, the report said.
“This is a very serious choice,” said one person close to Mr Macron. “It is a concrete, new response to the need for dialogue in society.”
To the anger of the left, Mr Macron has refused to accept the nomination of a left-wing prime minister, arguing that such a person would have no chance of passing a confidence motion in parliament.
Amid the political deadlock, Mr Macron, who has less than three years left in his term, has pushed ahead with holding the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, growing frustrated by opponents.
But amid signs of optimism as the French return from holidays, Mr Macron on Monday morning hosted Cazeneuve, a former prominent Socialist who led the government in the final months of Hollande’s 2012-17 presidential term.
Many commentators believed Mr Cazeneuve was the most likely to be nominated by Mr Macron, but his appointment is still not confirmed.
Mr Cazeneuve, 61, has served as interior minister for many years, including during the 2015 Paris attacks, and is respected across the political spectrum.
But the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party was unimpressed and vowed to vote him out of office.
center of gravity
Mr Macron also held talks with Xavier Bertrand, the right-wing premier and former minister from the northern Hauts-de-France region.
Mr Bertrand, 59, would be a more acceptable figure to the right wing as prime minister.
Mr Sarkozy remains an influential figure in the right-wing – despite facing multiple corruption charges since leaving office, which he has denied – and even among Macron supporters he has made his preferences clear.
He argued that “the center of gravity of French politics is on the right.” Figaro Every day on Saturday.
He said Mr Bertrand would be a “good choice”, while he opposed the nomination of Mr Cazeneuve.
Naming a former prime minister from the previous administration could be seen as a step backwards by President Macron, who took office in 2017 pledging to overhaul the way France is governed.
“Appointing Bernard Cazeneuve as prime minister would be an admission of the fact that the ‘New World’ has failed.” Le Monde Written in an editorial.
France’s left-wing New Popular Front coalition had demanded that the president choose as their candidate Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist and civil servant with a history of left-wing activism.
On Monday, Castells indicated that the left-wing coalition could be ready to negotiate.
“The New Popular Front supports policy change, and so it will support a candidate, a person who is in a position to bring about policy change,” he said.
Whoever is named will face the delicate task of building consensus on the bill in a highly polarised National Assembly at a time of immense challenges.
Now the October 1 deadline for the new government to submit a draft budget law for 2025 is approaching – a matter that the caretaker administration under Gabriel Attal, in office since July, cannot oversee.
With debt reaching 110% of annual output, France has faced a credit rating cut from Standard & Poor’s this year, and a rebuke from the European Commission for its excessive deficit.