Embattled French President Emmanuel Macron was widely expected to appoint a prime minister over the weekend — but he did not yield,
Politico reports.
Instead, he’ll hold talks at the Elysée Palace Monday morning with former Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, Xavier Bertrand, a leading figure from conservative party Les Républicains, and former Socialist PM Bernard Cazeneuve, who’s emerged as a front-runner to head the French government.
After weeks of deepening political crisis, Macron is under increasing pressure — including from his allies — to appoint a prime minister, nearly two months after his camp came in second during the surprise snap election he called in June.
Bernard Cazeneuve “says he’s not a candidate. If he’s asked, he’ll do it, out of duty, but he won’t do it at any price,” his team told POLITICO.
The Elysée didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Time is increasingly running out. Under French rules, the government has until Oct. 1 to submit a draft 2025 budget to the parliament.
The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance won this summer’s snap legislative election but failed to garner an absolute majority. Macron has since refused to install the alliance’s candidate for the PM post, 37-year-old civil servant Lucie Castets, to the position.
“The situation calls for a fairly rapid resolution,” François Bayrou, the leader of the Macron-allied centrist Modem party, told French TV on Sunday.
He backed Cazeneuve, a seasoned politician who was Hollande’s prime minister and represents the French left’s most centrist-leaning fringe, he added. Cazeneuve left the Socialist party in 2022 to protest the alliance with Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed.
