France's Macron expected to name new PM on Thursday
PARIS
French President Emmanuel Macron will likely name a new prime minister on Thursday, a government source told AFP on Wednesday, almost a week into a political crisis sparked by Michel Barnier's ouster as premier.
The nomination will come "more likely when (Macron) returns" in the evening from a day-long visit to Poland, the source added.
Macron had vowed on Tuesday afternoon to name a new government chief "within 48 hours", party chiefs who met him said.
Tuesday's round-table talks at the president's Elysee Palace office were aimed at finding a way forwards following last week's historic no-confidence vote that toppled Barnier's government.
The bosses of the far-right National Rally (RN) and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), who joined forces to oust Barnier, were not invited.
Macron is under huge pressure to cobble together a broad alliance and form a government that can survive a no-confidence vote and pass a budget for next year, in a bid to limit political and economic turmoil.
He had hoped to prise the Socialists, Greens and Communists away from their election pact with the LFI but their bosses insist a new prime minister should be named from their ranks.
France's hung parliament — split roughly evenly between the left, Macron's centrists and conservatives, and the RN — means some natural adversaries must bury or at least suspend their differences for a government to endure.
Cabinet meeting
Macron's centrist ally Francois Bayrou, a former justice minister acquitted in a trial this year on charges of embezzling EU funds, has been tipped by many as a possible contender for prime minister.
However, Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure spoke out against the candidacy of Bayrou, 73, whom he said would embody "continuity", whereas he wanted to see a prime minister from the left.
Other possible candidates include former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who according to sources rejected an initial offer but is still in the frame, and current Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
Maud Bregeon, spokeswoman for the caretaker government, said that Macron — at what was Barnier's last cabinet meeting on Wednesday — had evoked the possibility of a non-aggression pact that would see parties commit to not bringing down the government.
"The country has neither the luxury of instability, nor the luxury of immobility," she said.
Just over two-thirds of people in a representative survey by pollsters Elabe said they were in favour of a "no-censure" deal — although around the same number thought parties would not be able to agree.
In one sign of tentative progress, the left has offered not to use the controversial Article 49.3 of the constitution to force through legislation without a vote if one of its members is appointed prime minister.
In return, opponents would have to make a pledge not to bring down the government.
Also on Wednesday, a special budget draft law to allow the French state to keep functioning in the new year was presented to the Council of Ministers, said Bregeon.
The National Assembly will debate the bill on Monday next week with the Senate following suit on Wednesday. Most parties are expected to back the legislation in the name of stability.
'Not unhappy'
Last week, far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to oust the minority government of Barnier following a standoff over an austerity budget.
Macron dissolved parliament in June after the far right trounced his alliance in European elections, and called snap parliamentary polls that resulted in the hung parliament.
Some commentators said that bringing together so many parties for talks on Tuesday marked progress in Macron's attempt to reach consensus after the snap election.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who emerged as kingmaker after the elections, told broadcaster France 2 that she was "not unhappy not to have been invited" to the Macron talks.
An Ifop-Fiducial poll for Le Figaro Magazine and Sud Radio published on Wednesday indicated that Le Pen would win between 36 percent and 38 percent of the vote in the first round of the French presidential election.
Le Pen is embroiled in a high-profile embezzlement trial. If found guilty in March, she could be blocked from participating in France's next presidential election in 2027.
