French President Emmanuel Macron is weighing an increasingly limited selection of undesirable options to keep the French government functioning as the parliament continues to tear itself asunder.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who announced his resignation on Monday, has been tapped by the president to stay a few days longer and speak with leaders of the Left, Right, and center.
“The president has entrusted Mr Sebastien Lecornu, the outgoing Prime Minister in charge of day-to-day affairs, with the responsibility of conducting final negotiations by Wednesday evening to define a platform for action and stability for the country,” the Élysée Palace said in a statement.
As president of France, Macron cannot be forced to resign and is safe from political pressures until the end of his second term in 2027. He has tried to avoid calling another snap election due to the possibility of allowing rival parties to take control.
But he is now facing an onslaught of voices, both inside and outside his movement, demanding everything from ideological compromises to snap elections and even his resignation.
Leaders of the country’s Socialist party have accepted the invitation to meet with Lecornu on Wednesday morning to discuss the possibility of a compromise that saves Macron from being forced to call snap elections.
They are asking the president to pick a prime minister from their left-wing camp — advocating a government committed to “social and ecological justice.” However, a Socialist prime minister is widely seen as an unviable route to long-term stability as the centrists and right-wing are just as likely to oust a left-wing leader.
No one is particularly optimistic about the Wednesday talks — especially considering that the highest-polling political party, the right-wing National Rally, refused to attend.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen and her mentee, Jordan Bardella, are already preparing for the campaign season as they seek to make governance by Macron’s centrist Renaissance party impossible.
“There can be no restored stability without a return to the ballot box and without the dissolution of the National Assembly,” Bardella said on social media.
It’s not only Macron’s rivals telling him that sacrifices must be made. The president’s original prime minister from 2017, Édouard Philippe, told French radio station RTL that the time has come for the head of state to resign.
Philippe explained that he’s “not for an immediate and brutal resignation” but does not see a path forward for his former boss.
“Time is of the essence,” he said. “We are not going to prolong what we have been experiencing for the past six months. Another 18 months is far too long, and it is damaging France. The political game we are playing today is distressing.”
Gabriel Attal, who served as Macron’s prime minister from January to September last year, told French broadcaster TF1, “Like many French people, I no longer understand the president’s decisions.”
National Rally maintains a healthy lead in public opinion polls, with 32% support. The left-wing New Popular Front comes in second with 25%, and Macron’s centrist Renaissance faction sits at a mere 15%.
If Macron were to resign, Senate President Gérard Larcher would take control as the temporary head of state until a new presidential election could be held.
The hypothetical election would be required to take place 20 to 50 days after the resignation.
This possibility remains remote as Macron has claimed it is his responsibility to see out his term.
The only French president to resign from office since the establishment of the Fifth Republic was ironically its founder, Gen. Charles de Gaulle.
De Gaulle, widely considered one of the greatest French leaders in modern history, dramatically stepped down in 1969 after staking his political credibility on a failed national referendum seeking reforms to the Senate and the decentralization of government services.
It appears that Macron is deep in contemplation regarding his own political future.
Video emerged on Tuesday of the president walking wistfully along the River Seine in Paris, followed at a distance by bodyguards — a scene that European outlets have commented upon extensively.
