Pressure on Emmanuel Macron to speak out and address the French public amid fear of ‘regime crisis’ which could make the country ungovernable after fraught elections
Emmanuel Macron was under mounting pressure to address the French public last night amid concerns that a political stalemate would render the country ungovernable.
President Macron has yet to publicly comment on whether he has managed to stave off the long-awaited far-right surge in Sunday’s National Assembly elections. However, no winner has yet been declared.
His silence comes despite fears that uncertainty will arise in a parliament with gridlock and few ideological agreements.
The left-wing New Popular Front unexpectedly won 188 seats, 27 more than Macron’s centrists, while Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) came in third after moderate candidates agreed to step aside to avoid splitting the anti-nationalist vote.
Frederic-Pierre Vos, a former lawyer for the RN party who was elected in northern Paris, said the parliament without a majority would lead to an “ungovernable France”, which would open up new opportunities for the RN in 2027, when Macron is likely to step down.
Emmanuel Macron is under increasing pressure to address the French public amid concerns that a political stalemate will leave the country ungovernable
The hopes of Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Rassemblement National party, to form a government have been dashed after a last-minute alliance between left-wing parties
Bruno Le Maire, the French economy minister, warned of a “regime crisis”. He said: “The forces of the National Assembly are scattered. Their ideas are even more so. We urgently need consistency and clarity… let’s return to reality.”
Macron’s only intervention since exit polls predicted a defeat for Le Pen was to refuse to call for his prime minister’s resignation.
Gabriel Attal, 35, offered to step down just six months after his appointment following a sobering night at the polls. But the Elysee said France’s youngest ever prime minister would remain in office “for the time being”.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (pictured) has offered his resignation, but Macron has asked his protégé to stay on as the country faces a crisis
Any new government will find it difficult to pass legislation and make significant spending decisions to prevent the national debt from spiralling out of control.
However, the president must try to build alliances, a task made virtually impossible by his hostility to both Ms Le Pen and the left-wing radical left politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who was the driving force behind the rise of the New Popular Front.
Gerald Darmanin, who was interior minister under Attal, said it was “out of the question to govern or support” a coalition that would have ties to the RN or the left-wing bloc.
Today the NATO summit starts in Washington and millions of visitors are expected to flock to Paris this month for the Olympic Games.
And while the disappointed RN achieved a disappointing result, it managed to increase its vote share, despite accusing ‘the establishment’ of thwarting its rise to power through coordinated vote campaigns.
French airport workers are set to strike next week – nine days before the Paris Olympics kick off. Unions are demanding that all employees receive a bonus because the Games are taking place during the summer holidays.