The candidate for the post of prime minister designated by the French left, Lucie Castets, asked President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to “take responsibility” and appoint her, while affirming that a coalition between the left and the presidential camp was “impossible”.
The alliance of left-wing parties, called the New Popular Front (NFP), which came out on top in the recent legislative elections, managed to agree on Tuesday on the name of Lucie Castets, a senior civil servant in the city of Paris, unknown to the general public.
But President Macron rejected this candidacy.
Deploring on France Inter radio his “inconsistency” and a “denial of democracy”, Mr.me Castets, 37, director of finance and purchasing for the city of Paris, asked him to take “his responsibilities and [la] “appoint” prime minister.
“We cannot postpone this type of decision”
“The moment is serious and we cannot postpone this type of decision,” she insisted, while the head of state indicated that he would not make any appointments before the end of the Olympic Games “in mid-August.”
She also considered “impossible” “a coalition with the presidential camp”, due to “deep disagreements”. “There is no possible agreement between those who want everyone to pay their fair share of taxes and those who instead propose tax breaks for the most privileged people”, she said.
After sixteen days of negotiations that nearly caused their alliance to implode, the various components of the NFP agreed to propose this personality from civil society and committed to the defense of public service.
The latter declared that among her “major priorities” were the repeal of an unpopular pension reform led under the leadership of Emmanuel Macron, a “major tax reform so that everyone, individuals and multinationals, pays their fair share”, the revaluation of salaries and the increase in social benefits, as well as the “end of the regression of public services”.
What majority is needed to pass reforms?
But President Macron said the NFP had “no majority whatsoever.”
“The question is not a name. The question is what majority can emerge in the Assembly so that a government of France can pass reforms, pass a budget and move the country forward,” he said.
“The idea is to convince text after text, law after law,” retorted Ms Castets, aware that her camp “does not have an absolute majority.”
For her, “the results of the elections are absolutely clear. It is a rejection of the policy of the outgoing government.”
The French president’s camp has lost its majority in the National Assembly after its surprise dissolution, decided on the evening of the European elections which saw the triumph of the far-right National Rally party. The lower house of parliament is now divided into three blocs.
The resigned government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal remains responsible for current affairs, with a limited political role.