The French government will resign on Tuesday evening after Prime Minister Gabriel Attal failed to secure a majority for the presidential camp in the legislative elections, but will remain in charge of current affairs for “a few weeks”, probably until the end of the sensitive period of the Olympic Games organized in France from July 26 to August 11.
Around French President Emmanuel Macron, the government held its first Council of Ministers at the end of the morning at the Élysée Palace since the early legislative elections, called by the head of state after his party’s bitter defeat in the European elections at the beginning of June.
In the legislative elections, the left-wing coalition of the New Popular Front (NFP) won the largest number of seats but did not obtain an absolute majority in the National Assembly, now divided into three blocs: the NFP (190 to 195 seats), followed by the centre-right presidential camp (around 160 seats), and the extreme right and its allies (143 seats).
Mr. Macron suggested on Tuesday in the Council of Ministers that this situation of a resigning government – and therefore with a political role limited to a minimum – could “last a certain time”, “a few weeks”, probably until the end of the Olympic Games at least, according to the participants questioned by AFP.
This new configuration would make it possible to ensure “in the name of continuity, the minimal functioning of the French State”, explains a note from the general secretariat of the government (SGG) dated July 2.
On Tuesday, Mr. Macron thanked the ministers. Gabriel Attal spoke of his “gratitude” for the members of the government and for the head of state, of his “passion for France” and of his “duty”, “including in the particular period that we are going through”, reported a minister.
“There were no tensions or effusions,” explained another participant, despite the now flagrant divergences between the two heads of the executive since the dissolution of the Assembly and the early legislative elections.
This resignation will allow members of the government elected as deputies to regain their parliamentary mandate to participate in the election for the presidency of the National Assembly on Thursday, a highly strategic position nicknamed the perch for which negotiations are going well.
The Left Divided
This transitional period also offers some time for the different political parties to try to build compromises and forge alliances.
The presidential camp is trying to build an alternative majority to the left: once again, attention is turning to the right-wing party Les Républicains and their forty or so deputies.
Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday in the Council of Ministers that his camp should “put a proposal on the table with a view to a majority coalition or a broad legislative pact,” reported a participant.
On the left, discussions to submit a candidate for the post of prime minister continue to become increasingly tense, with the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI — radical left) Jean-Luc Mélenchon having refused to continue them until a common candidate for the post has been found.
Socialists, communists and environmentalists returned to the charge on Monday evening by suggesting for Matignon the climate specialist Laurence Tubiana, 73 years old, who defines herself as a “woman of the left and environmentalist”.
But this option was dismissed by LFI, the movement’s coordinator Manuel Bompard considering the proposal “not serious”.
In the midst of the political uncertainty, one thing is certain for the future French government: it will recover public finances in the red.
In a thick report presented on Monday, the Court of Auditors draws up a worrying assessment, while France’s debt has increased to almost 3,160 billion euros at the end of March (i.e. almost 111% of GDP, compared to 60% according to European criteria). The need to reduce this debt is an “imperative” that “must be shared” by all political forces, warned the President of the Court of Auditors Pierre Moscovici.