What to expect from the consultations of political forces launched by Emmanuel Macron?

More than six weeks after the legislative elections, the head of state has still not appointed a Prime Minister. From Friday to Monday, he will meet with the leaders of parties and parliamentary groups.

The president is keeping the suspense going. Emmanuel Macron is receiving the heads of parliamentary groups and party leaders at the Elysée Palace on Friday, August 23. The aim of “this series of exchanges” : appoint a new Prime Minister despite a National Assembly without a clear majority since the second round of elections on July 7. Time is running out: 47 days have passed since the elections and France still does not have a new government. A record in the history of the Fifth Republic, which irritates the left, which came out on top in the Assembly with 193 deputies but far from of the absolute majority threshold (289). Franceinfo summarizes what to expect from these meetings.

Political forces received on Friday and Monday

Emmanuel Macron, who had invoked a “political truce” during the Olympic Games, also let the commemorations of the landing in Provence pass before summoning the leaders of political parties and the presidents of groups in the Senate and the National Assembly to the Elysée. The leaders of the main components of the New Popular Front (NFP), including Olivier Faure for the PS, Marine Tondelier for the Ecologists, Emmanuel Bompard for La France insoumise and the communist Fabien Roussel, will be accompanied by their candidate for Matignon, Lucie Castets. They will be received first, at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. A choice that the Elysée justifies by the fact that the NFP is the leading political force in the National Assembly.

Lto the right of Laurent Wauquiez will present himself in the afternoon. The leader of the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen, the party boss Jordan Bardella and their ally, still president of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, who have no intention of participating in any coalition government, will be received on Monday at 10 o’clock.

A Prime Minister appointed “as a follow-up” to the consultations

Emmanuel Macron’s goal is to sound out political forces with a view to appointing a Prime Minister. She “will intervene as a follow-up to these consultations and their conclusions”the Elysée Palace announced to the press on Friday, August 16. For the moment, the president has not deviated from his comments expressed in his letter sent to the French people on July 10, in which he called on political forces to come to an agreement. “During the legislative elections, the French people expressed a desire for change and broad unity. In a spirit of responsibility, all political leaders must work to implement this desire.”the entourage of the head of state further explained.

It is difficult, for the moment, to know what decision Emmanuel Macron will make. Bound by his decision to dissolve, the President of the Republic must deal with this Assembly for at least one year. In any case, he rejected the Lucie Castets hypothesis on July 23. Other names are circulating, such as that of the former socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve or the right-wing president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand. They should be taken with caution. Few political observers knew the name of former Prime Minister Jean Castex when he was appointed in 2020.

Political forces in expectation

The various forces in the Assembly are waiting to meet Emmanuel Macron to decide on what to do next. The NFP maintains its desire to have Lucie Castets appointed as Prime Minister. The left-wing forces have also shown themselves satisfied that their candidate was also received by Emmanuel Macron. Is this a sign? The left-wing candidate intends to tell the President of the Republic that “The inaction has lasted too long, and [que] no one understands it”, she confided to ReleaseThe senior official maintains that she will know “find agreements” in Parliament.

On the right, an agreement sealed with Laurent Wauquiez’s Les Républicains allowed the reappointment of outgoing president Yaël Braun-Pivet as head of the National Assembly in mid-July. However, right-wing MPs are against any government agreement. LR MP for Moselle, Fabien Di Filippo, recalled on franceinfo on Friday that his party “do not wish[ait] not participate in a coalition.” Judging that the centre of power was now in the Assembly, on 11 July, Laurent Wauquiez had instead proposed a “legislative pact”The LR promises a motion of censure to any government that includes ministers from LFI.

After its defeat, the RN, the third force in the Assembly, is keeping its intentions and strategy regarding the future government a secret. Registered in the opposition and with no desire to participate in the future government, the two leading figures of the RN have little to hope for from this meeting, already described by RN MP Franck Allisio as“communication artifice” macronist on France Inter. This meeting will however be an opportunity to recall that with 126 deputies – 142 with its close allies of Eric Ciotti – against 89 in the previous legislature, the RN intends to weigh in the hemicycle. The group is “quite numerous”, Indeed, “to submit motions of censure”warned the vice-president of the RN, Edwige Diaz, on franceinfo Tuesday. A warning that is particularly valid for the NFP.