France | Final consultations for the post of Prime Minister

(Paris) The outcome seems to be approaching in the quest for a prime minister in France, almost two months after the legislative elections: President Emmanuel Macron is receiving on Monday two personalities who have been persistently cited for the post as well as the former heads of state François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.

The aim of these consultations, which are accelerating, is to find a head of government who will not be immediately censored by a majority of deputies, while the elections have led to a National Assembly without a majority.

Mr Macron said on Thursday that he was making “every effort” in his search for a new prime minister to “achieve the best solution for the country”.

In a deeply divided France, the resigning government continues to manage current affairs.

Received first at 8:45 a.m. (2:45 a.m. Eastern Time) on Monday, former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is the favorite even though nothing has been decided.

“Bernard Cazeneuve is not asking for it, but if he does it is out of duty and to avoid additional difficulties for the country,” his entourage explained on Sunday.

Emmanuel Macron, who could make this appointment on Tuesday, recently rejected the candidacy of senior civil servant Lucie Castets, presented by the New Popular Front (NFP) parties, a left-wing alliance that came out on top in the legislative elections, arguing that there was a risk of immediate censure in the National Assembly.

The French president also wants the central bloc to be part of the future majority.

Bernard Cazeneuve, 61, was Interior Minister at the time of the bloody jihadist attacks in 2015, then Prime Minister in the last months of Socialist President François Hollande’s five-year term.

He left the Socialist Party (PS) in 2022, fiercely opposed to the alliance with the main radical left party LFI, within the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes).

This could earn him support from the central bloc while escaping censorship from the right and the far right.

But his arrival at Matignon could divide the socialists.

Right-wing Prime Minister?

“Bernard Cazeneuve is not supported by any of the four left-wing parties in the country,” assured LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard on Sunday, reaffirming his desire to censure “any government other than that of Lucie Castets.”

Received at 11 a.m. (5 a.m. Eastern Time), François Hollande should not dissuade Emmanuel Macron from appointing Bernard Cazeneuve, unlike the former right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy, expected at 12:15 p.m. (6:15 a.m. Eastern Time).

The latter wants a “right-wing prime minister” and believes that former minister Xavier Bertrand, 59, would be “a good choice”.

Mr Bertrand, who is the president of the right-wing Les Républicains party and of a region in the north of France, and who will succeed Mr Sarkozy in Emmanuel Macron’s office, has made no secret of the fact that he would be interested in the role.

But he does not have the support of his party leaders who want to come as opponents to the 2027 presidential election and refuse any coalition or participation in the future government.

And it is also necessary for Emmanuel Macron and his future prime minister to agree on the terms of their agreement.

The unpopular reform of retirement at 64 will be one of the delicate subjects to be addressed as the French president fears seeing his record unravel.

Time is running out for a new government, as the 2025 budget is due to be tabled in Parliament on 1^er October at the latest.