French President Emmanuel Macron has officially accepted Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s resignation amid the country’s legislative shake-up, but has requested that his ally stays on in a “caretaker” role until his successor is decided upon.
France’s recent elections may have prevented a right-wing overthrow of the government, but what will happen next is much more unclear.
The New Popular Front alliance, a leftist coalition of political groups including the Socialists, Communists, Greens and France Unbowed (LFI) that was born out of a desire to block the right’s National Rally from taking power, came out on top of the recent elections on 7th July.
With 182 seats, the alliance won an edge over Macron’s centrist Renaissance party, who won 168 seats, leaving the National Rally in third with 143. Nevertheless, the alliance failed to secure an absolute majority.
See more: Understanding the French election: Left-green take surprise win but country faces hung parliament
France’s multi-party system means that negotiation is necessary to avoid legislative deadlocks, but the left’s squabbling coalition is finding it hard to manage that among themselves, let alone with any other outside force.
President Macon is endeavoring to find a solution to the quagmire, calling on “republican forces to work together” in the hope that the extremes on both the left and right can be forced out of the equation.
As a result, the country is currently left without a prime minister from a ruling party and a president who is unwilling to let the current one to go.
But go he must. On 16th July, 35-year-old Gabriel Attal, the youngest prime minister in France’s history, formally resigned from his post.
CARETAKER ROLE
This would normally be the end of the story, but in these confused political times, Attal’s future status is more complicated.
Though Macron accepted Attal’s resignation, he has asked him to stay on in a “caretaker role” until a new prime minister is settled on. Macron has reportedly said that this interim position will be in place for several weeks and that Attal has agreed to steer the ship until a new choice is agreed upon.
At this point, Attal will step into the role of leader of the Renaissance party and take his seat in the National Assembly.
Though it all seems very civilised, there are reports that the relationship between Macron and Attal, who have always appeared to be close allies, has turned frosty, with the latter blaming the former for the outcome of the elections.
Macron, meanwhile, has promised to continue in his role as President until 2027, when the next presidential elections are due to take place.
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Photo source: Emmanuel Macron, Instagram