France’s president said today that he hopes not to have to dissolve the National Assembly again in the 30 months remaining in his term, according to sources close to him.
Macron also said at the meeting with leaders of political parties – excluding the far-right National Front and the far-left French Insubordinate – that he hoped to appoint a new prime minister within the next 48 hours.
He himself stated that he is going to discuss with them again “the essence”, before forming a government, according to information from the French Agency.
The French president told the participants that he did not want to be forced to seek the support of “extreme” political parties and in particular the National Alarm.
“Interesting but fruitless conversations”
The Socialist party leadership welcomed the “interesting but fruitless” talks. The Socialists could be key to forming a new government after the resignation of Michel Barnier last week, sparking France’s second major political crisis in six months.
“It was an interesting but inconclusive meeting. The ball is in the president’s court,” Socialist leader Olivier Faure told reporters as he left the presidential palace. “We are claiming, quite logically, (…) a prime minister of the left” who will be “open to compromises”, Fore insisted. The New People’s Front (NFP), the left-wing coalition, won the parliamentary elections this summer.
The Socialists, Environmentalists and Communists were invited to the meeting, but not France Insubordinate, their ally in the New Popular Front, which caused tensions between the partners. “The politics of the empty chair is a form of weakening the left,” Faure said, assuring that he wants to find a “solution” to get out of the crisis.
Greens leader Marine Todellier appeared unimpressed by Macron’s proposals, commenting that he appeared intransigent. He made “no compromise, no retreat”, he stressed, noting that “there is no question” of the participation of the Greens in a government with the Republicans.
Laurent Vauquier, the head of the Republican Right, also appeared wary of a collaboration between the center-right and the left. “At the end of the meeting we all share the same belief, that there will be no government contract with people with whom we do not share the same values,” he told reporters.
