Macron refuses to name a left-wing government, prolongs consultations

Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday rejected naming the leftist candidate as prime minister in the name of “institutional stability” and called for a new round of consultations with parties and “personalities” to overcome the political deadlock.

“A government based solely on the programme and parties proposed by the alliance with the largest number of deputies, the New Popular Front, would be immediately censured” in the Assembly (lower house), the head of state stressed in a statement.

Macron shocked France by bringing forward the legislative elections scheduled for 2027 to June 30 and July 7 to ask voters for “clarification” following the victory of the far right in the European elections.

But this scenario has plunged France into a political deadlock, as none of the three main blocs that emerged from the election – the left, the centre-right and the far right – has achieved a majority of 289 deputies.

The NFP, made up of socialists, communists, environmentalists and the radical left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI), won the election with 193 deputies and proposed the 37-year-old economist Lucie Castets as prime minister.

Macron’s centre-right alliance won 166 seats, followed by the far-right National Rally (RN) and its allies (142) and the traditional right-wing party The Republicans (LR, 47).

Nearly two months after the election, Macron began a round of consultations with the parties on Friday and, based on these, he considered that “the institutional stability” of France “imposes not to retain this option” of Castets, the statement said.

The president announced a new round of consultations on Tuesday with party leaders and “experienced figures in the service” of France. However, shortly before, the NFP said it would not meet him again if he did not appoint Castets.

The left-wing coalition’s rivals had already threatened to vote no confidence in Castets if Macron appointed her prime minister, but she was the only candidate for the moment given the right’s refusal to make a pact with the ruling party.