The Paris Summer Games truce ended the moment the Olympic flag was handed over at the Stade de France on Sunday. Now, Macron and his party are in a rush to establish a majority to nominate the country’s new PM.
A little over a month after the second round of the snap parliamentary elections that plunged the country into chaos, the political chess game is back in full swing.
The climax of the Paris Olympics also signalled the end of the political truce French President Emmanuel Macron worked out with other major parties prior to the games.
On Tuesday afternoon, the resigning Prime Minister Gabriel Attal sent a letter to various party leaders except for the far-right National Rally (RN) and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI).
The goal: find a legislative compromise and establish a ruling coalition among the more moderate right- and left-wing parties in parliament.
The letter details a roadmap of six major points, including an overhaul of the country’s public finances, a touchy subject after the European Commission reprimanded France for breaking EU budget rules in June.
The clock is ticking as France’s national budget plan must be presented to the MPs of the National Assembly by the end of September.
The other points include an emphasis on cracking down on crime and strengthening public services such as education and health.
“I am, with my entire party, at your disposal to discuss these priorities,” concluded Attal in the letter seen by Euronews.
Even if he admits it will be difficult to “agree on everything”, the outgoing prime minister asked MPs to “overcome” disagreements.
This is why Macron and his party are in a rush to establish a majority to nominate the country’s new PM.
The New Popular Front (NFP), the left-wing coalition that won the most seats in the snap election, proposed the name of Lucie Castets, a civil servant and economist, at the end of July.
However, the French leader brushed off her nomination, creating a backlash from multiple MPs.
According to institutional logic, the prime minister should come from the party with the most seats in parliament.
Some politicians accused Macron of using the “Olympic truce” to buy time to form a coalition and be able to pick a nominee he prefers.
According to some of Macron’s MPs Euronews spoke to, the president’s goal is to nominate a new prime minister by the end of next week.
But the NFP and Castets have stood their ground.
She also sent a letter on Monday to MPs — sans the RN — drafting a roadmap for a new government under the left-wing coalition. Her priorities include raising salaries and “fairer taxation”.
