Macron meets Le Pen under pressure to name new PM

PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron hosted far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen for rare talks Monday, as pressure mounts for him to finally name a prime minister after July's inconclusive parliamentary poll.

Le Pen, joined by National Rally (RN) party head Jordan Bardella, walked without ceremony into a rear entrance of the Elysee palace in Paris ahead of the 10:45 am (0845 GMT) meeting, with the president nowhere to be seen.

Snap elections called by centrist Macron failed last month to extricate France from the hung-parliament deadlock that had seen his camp run a minority government since 2022.

Instead, the National Assembly (lower house) is largely divided among three blocs: the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance of left-wing parties with over 190 seats, followed by the president's supporters at around 160 and the far-right National Rally on 140.

None is close to a majority of 289 in the 577-seat chamber.

Since the second-round polls closed on July 7, the left has pushed for Macron to name one of their own as prime minister, saying the position falls to them as the largest power.

They have named largely unknown 37-year-old economist and civil servant Lucie Castets as their prospective candidate for head of government.

Macron has for his part delayed installing a new PM, leaving a caretaker government in place for an unprecedented period as he seeks a figure with broad support who would not immediately be toppled in a confidence vote.

But the pressure is now on, with the deadline to present a draft 2025 budget for the heavily-indebted government looming just over a month away.

Since Friday, Macron has invited party leaders for talks at the Elysee in hopes of finding the elusive consensus candidate.

All have stuck to their guns, with the NFP alliance of Socialists, Communists, Greens and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) insisting they have won the right to implement their big-spending programme.

"I don't want to participate in a show where the dice are loaded" against the left, Socialist party chief Olivier Faure said of the talks with Macron.

Others including top Macron allies, conservatives and the RN have vowed to vote no confidence in any left-wing government.

The 2027 presidential vote, at which Macron cannot stand again after serving two terms, further stacks political incentives against compromise.

Many leaders instead appear set on demonstrating their ideological purity to voters in the long race for the country's top job.