France's Macron seeks new PM and a way out of political crisis
President Emmanuel Macron on Friday sat down with party leaders on the left and right in a bid to hammer out a compromise that would give France a new prime minister and a path out of crisis.
Macron adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation late Thursday, 24 hours after Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was ousted in a historic no-confidence vote.
He vowed to name a new prime minister in the "coming days", rejected growing pressure from the opposition to resign and blamed an "anti-republican front" of the hard left and far right for France's woes.
Barnier stepped down as contemporary France's shortest-serving premier after Wednesday's successful parliamentary no-confidence vote, a first in more than six decades.
"I will appoint a prime minister in the coming days," Macron said, adding that a "government of general interest" would be formed to pass a budget.
Barnier, who has been premier for only three months, and his ministers will remain in charge on a caretaker basis until a new government is appointed.
Macron on Friday met leaders of the parliamentary factions of his own centrist forces, the Socialist Party and the right-wing Republicans.
The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) and far-right National Rally (RN) have not been invited to talks at this stage.
Macron has an additional incentive to limit political chaos as on Saturday he hosts world leaders -- including US president-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after a devastating 2019 fire.
- 'Can't bring the country to a halt' -
Macron, who has long hoped to split the traditional Socialists from their pact with the LFI, received a boost when Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said he was ready to negotiate with the president's centrists and the right.
After their meeting, Faure said Macron had "absolutely not" asked him to jettison his alliance with LFI.
Faure said he himself was ready for "compromise on all subjects", including the thorny subject of pension reform.
"We need to find a solution because we can't bring the country to a halt for months," he said.
Any cooperation would, however, be conditional on Macron appointing a left-of-centre prime minister, said Faure, categorically ruling out backing any rightist premier.
Faure did not appear to have the backing of his leftist allies, with LFI's veteran firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon saying his party had given the Socialists "no mandate" to negotiate a deal with Macron.
Green party boss Marine Tondelier called on Faure not to "walk into the trap" she said Macron had set.
Right-wing Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, meanwhile, drew his own red line, saying the right would "make no compromise" with the left, which he accused of betraying its principles by entering into the pact with the LFI.
Barnier's ejection in record time came after snap parliamentary elections in June resulted in a hung parliament.
The trigger for the ouster was his 2025 budget plan, including austerity measures unacceptable to a majority in parliament.
- Macron says he won't go -
Barnier is Macron's fifth prime minister, their tenures having become increasingly brief. Given the polarised parliament, there is no guarantee that Barnier's successor will last any longer.
Loyalist Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Macron's centrist ally Francois Bayrou are possible contenders, as is former Socialist premier and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
Constitutional rules means new legislative elections cannot be called until July.
Two polls suggest that a clear majority of French people want Macron, who has two-and-a-half years left in office, to go early.
The president has rejected such calls, saying he would exercise the remainder of his five-year mandate "fully, right up to the end" and vowing "30 months of useful action for the country."
Financial markets appeared to welcome Macron's apparent determination to take charge.
The key index on the Paris Bourse, the CAC-40, showed a gain of around 1.2 percent in late Friday trading.
In the debt market, the 10-year yield on French government bonds eased back, indicating that investors believe that the risk to France's financial position has become less acute since the president's speech.
(W.Budayev--DTZ)
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