Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tendered her resignation on Tuesday to Emmanuel Macron, who refused it, while the French president finds himself in an impasse after losing his majority in the National Assembly at the end of the second round of legislative elections.
Ms. Borne will remain in power so that the government can stay on task and act in these daysthe presidency announced on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister will bring together the entire government at the start of the afternoon, her entourage announced to theAFP. The three ministers beaten at the ballot box, called by this fact to resign, will be present.
It is traditional after the legislative elections that the head of government proposes his resignation. This approach amounts in fact to a new legitimation of the Prime Minister, immediately reappointed to his post by the President.
On Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron chose, on the contrary, to refuse this ritual resignation in the run-up to a series of international meetings (European Council, G7, summit of theNATO) starting Thursday.
He will, before that, lead the necessary political consultations […] in order to identify possible constructive solutions at the service of the Frenchsaid its communications department.
The president consults the opposition
The French president, who was re-elected in April for a second five-year term, is due to receive the leaders of the opposition parties on Tuesday and Wednesday.
He will receive six of them today, in particular the representative of the Republicans (LR, right), the Socialist Party (PS) and the National Rally (RN, far right).
These meetings come at a time when the bosses of the PS Olivier Faure and the Communist Party Fabien Roussel have indicated that they do not rule out bringing down the government of Elisabeth Borne in the long term.
La France insoumise (LFI), leading party of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (NUPES), the coalition of left-wing parties gathered behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon who came second in the legislative elections, intends to table a motion of censure against the government on July 5.
If the majority of MPs approved it – an eventuality that would require an unlikely agreement between the left, the right and the extreme right – the government would fall.
Navigate instability
France is entering a period of great political instability due to the absence of an absolute majority for Emmanuel Macron’s troops in the National Assembly.
The president’s centrist coalition, which relied during Mr. Macron’s first term on a comfortable absolute majority (set at 289 deputies), retains only 245 seats out of 577 at the end of the ballot.
The rest of the hemicycle is divided mainly between the NUPES (at least 150 seats, according to a count of theAFP), the extreme right (89) and the right (61).
If the presidential camp immediately reached out to the latter, the president of LRChristian Jacob, on Tuesday rejected any idea of a government pact, assuring that his party would not be the spare wheel of the majority. We remain in the opposition of matter determined, but responsiblehe added.
The general secretary of LR, Aurélien Pradié, had nevertheless indicated on Monday that he was not No way for him to vote the motion of censure of LFI, for lack of republican values and of projects shared for the future of our country.
The presidential coalition, whose plan to retire at 65 is rejected both on the left and on the far right, could negotiate punctually on each piece of legislation or conclude a government agreement with other parties. This scenario, typical in Germany, remains unusual in France.
The new configuration of the seats in the National Assembly puts Parliament back at the center of French politics, a first since the advent of the Fifth Republic in 1958.
France Media Agency
Source: Radio-Canada
