By Canadian Press

France’s Macron says he’ll keep the centrist caretaker government on through the Olympics

Jul 23, 2024 | 2:49 PM

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he will keep a centrist caretaker government on through the Olympics to avoid “disorder,” brushing aside an 11th-hour prime minister nomination by the country’s leftist coalition.

Macron made his widely expected announcement in a TV interview late Tuesday. Just prior to that appearance, the leftist coalition that won the most votes in this month’s parliamentary elections selected little-known civil servant Lucie Castets as their choice for prime minister.

But Macron told the France 2 network that the current government, who resigned last week to take on a purely caretaker role, would “handle current affairs during the Olympics,” which are being staged in Paris and elsewhere in France through Aug. 11.

“Until mid-August, we’re not in a position to be able to change things because it would prompt disorder,” Macron said. “I have chosen the stability” to safeguard the Games, which will soon gather about 10,500 athletes and millions of fans.

Party leaders in the leftist coalition immediately slammed Macron’s unwillingness to immediately consider their prime minister candidate.

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There is no firm timeline for when Macron must name a new prime minister, following legislative elections that left the National Assembly, France’s influential lower house of parliament, with no dominant political bloc in power for the first time in France’s modern Republic.

Asked about the leftist coalition’s choice, Macron said “the issue is not a name provided by a political group,” adding that there must be a parliamentary majority behind the candidate to “pass reforms, pass a budget and move the country forward.”

France has been on the brink of government paralysis since the National Assembly elections resulted in a split among three major political blocs: the leftist New Popular Front, Macron’s centrist allies and the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen.

Macron, who has a presidential mandate until 2027, has the ultimate say in who is appointed prime minister. However, that person would need enough support from lawmakers to avoid a no-confidence vote.

Macron urged politicians from both the moderate left, the center and the moderate right to “work together” during the summer, arguing that with no outright majority, none of the main blocs can implement their political platforms.

He said “compromises” are needed.

Macron said he’d like to form a government as soon as possible, but that “Obviously, until mid-August, we need to be focused on the Games.”

The leftist coalition has repeatedly demanded the right to form a government after it won the most seats in the National Assembly, yet deep internal divisions have prevented its members from agreeing on a prime minister candidate for more than two weeks. The coalition is composed of three main parties — the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists and the Greens.

On Tuesday, they appeared to rush to propose Castets before Macron made his first televised interview since the elections.

Following Macron’s comments, hard-left leader of France Unbowed, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said on X that “the President refuses to accept the results of the election and wants to … force us to abandon our platform and form an alliance with him. This is out of the question. Respect the French people’s vote.”

“Emmanuel Macron needs to get out of denial,” the Greens’ secretary general Marine Tondelier said. “We have won, we have a program, we have a prime minister… The president can’t just stand in the way.”

Castets, a 37-year-old senior civil servant, graduated from France’s elite school Sciences Po and the École Nationale d’Administration as well as the London School of Economics. She has worked at the General Directorate of the Treasury and Tracfin, the anti-money laundering unit of the Finance Ministry.

The New Popular Front described her as “a leader of associative struggles for the defense and promotion of public services, actively involved in the battle of ideas against raising the retirement age to 64 (years old).” They also highlighted her efforts in combating tax fraud and financial crime.

Sébastien Chenu, a lawmaker and vice-president of the far-right National Rally, criticized the selection of Castets, calling it “a joke in bad taste.”

Last year, Macron struggled to pass an unpopular plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, prompting months of mass protests that damaged his leadership.

Sylvie Corbet And Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press