President Emmanuel Macron wants to “give time” to the parties, but the left, which came out on top in the elections, is growing impatient: France remained bogged down on Thursday in post-legislative negotiations, stuck by the coexistence of three irreconcilable blocs without an absolute majority.
In a “letter to the French” published by the regional press on Wednesday, the president considered that “no one has[vait] “carried away” on Sunday, noting that the “blocs” that emerged from the ballot boxes “are all minorities” in the Assembly.
He therefore intends to “give the political forces a little time to build [des] compromise” and, in the meantime, leave it to the current government to “exercise its responsibilities”, while Paris hosts the Olympic Games in just over two weeks.
Three blocs emerged from the vote: the left-wing alliance (190 to 195 seats), followed by the centre-right presidential camp (around 160 seats), and the far-right (143 seats) which came third, but made a historic breakthrough. However, a government would have to gather the support of at least 289 deputies.
Several figures from the right and the centre support the approach of the tenant of the Élysée, such as the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, the third most important figure in the State, who pleaded for the country to “step over the important period where we welcome the world to the Olympic Games”. He postponed the formation of a new cabinet “until the beginning of September”.
“Louis XVI at Versailles”
But people are choking on his words within the left-wing alliance of the New Popular Front (NFP), the first to be surprised on Sunday to find itself in the lead in terms of the number of deputies and determined to implement its programme of rupture.
Olivier Faure, the leader of the Socialist Party, accuses the president of not “respecting the vote of the French people”. And the fiery leader of La France insoumise (LFI, radical left), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, denounced “scheming” and “the return of the royal veto”.
The powerful CGT union is calling for rallies on July 18 “so that the election results are respected,” according to its boss, Sophie Binet. “We feel like we have Louis XVI locking himself away in Versailles,” she adds, referring to the monarch guillotined in 1793 during the Revolution.
Emmanuel Macron is in Washington until Thursday for a NATO summit devoted to the war in Ukraine.
An appointment where he will have to reassure on France’s foreign policy in the months to come, against the backdrop of a new Labour majority in Great Britain and questions about the state of health of the American president, Joe Biden, and his ability to win the presidential election in November against Donald Trump.
In his absence, the French political scene is inflamed.
NFP leaders are struggling to agree on a consensual name for prime minister. And some are getting exasperated: “I have expressed my impatience quite strongly,” communist Fabien Roussel told the daily Release“We are taking far too long,” admitted environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau.
“Macronism is over”
Business circles are expressing their concerns every day about the NFP break-up program. France must save 25 billion euros in 2024 to straighten out its public finances, announced the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire.
The governor of the Bank of France called for “recognition of the demands of reality” and the avoidance of “excessive wage costs” for businesses.
At the same time, the Macronists are building scenarios to keep power. Members of his party are dreaming of “programmatic alliances” within a “project coalition ranging from the social democrats to the government right”, therefore without LFI.
As for the extreme right, it has ratified a defeat initially linked to the “republican barrage” organized in the second round of the legislative elections by the left, the center and the right, to keep it away from power. But its leader, Marine Le Pen, after three failures since 2012, is ostensibly aiming for the 2027 presidential election.
His protégé, the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, considered it “irresponsible” that the message of the head of state is “now: ‘sort it out yourselves'”.
Despite the support of a few loyalists, President Macron sees his image more tarnished than ever, with his own camp blaming him for the dissolution, which he decided almost alone.
“Macronism is over,” castigated the former deputy of the presidential majority Gilles Le Gendre, estimating that the “only coalition that exists today” is the one “against the president.”