Macron is meeting with French party leaders to try to name a prime minister

By Elizabeth Pineau and Ingrid Melander

PARIS/TOURS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is meeting party leaders from the left, center and right on Friday with the aim, nearly seven weeks after inconclusive parliamentary elections, to finally give the country a new prime minister.

Whoever Macron appoints will face a tough job, with parliamentary approval of the 2025 budget one of many challenges at a time when France is under pressure from the European Commission and bond markets to reduce its deficit.

Who will become prime minister – and whether he can get a hung parliament to support any reforms – is still an open question.

Macron’s gamble to call early parliamentary elections backfired, with his centrist coalition losing dozens of seats in the June 30 and July 7 polls, which produced a hung parliament.

The government of incumbent Prime Minister Gabriel Attal led France to the Paris Olympics in an insider role. But the break is over and Macron will name a prime minister after those talks, which will continue on Monday, his office said.

Macron has so far ignored the candidate endorsed by the left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP), which topped the vote, stressing that although he is the frontrunner, they are far from an absolute majority in parliament.

Instead, he called on leaders to strike deals across party lines to form a government with a solid majority.

“In the face of this parliament of minority (parties), there is a need for political leaders to understand each other,” said an official in Macron’s office at the Elysee. Elections “force everyone to change tack and enter a coalition logic.”

The NFP wants its candidate Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old senior civil servant, to be appointed prime minister.

“We will remind the president of his obligation to respect the choice of the French,” Castets told a rally in the western French city of Tours on Thursday evening.

“We won that election, whether Emmanuel Macron likes it or not,” Greens leader Marine Tondelier said at the same rally.

Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel, whose party also belongs to the NFP alliance, said on Friday that not appointing Castets would trigger a serious crisis.

But Castet’s chances of getting the job are slim. A source close to Macron told Reuters earlier this month that the president believes the center of gravity of the new parliament is in the center or center-right.

Other possible candidates include a conservative regional president, Xavier Bertrand, and former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeveuve, sources said. French media recently mentioned Karim Bouamrane, the socialist mayor of a poor Paris suburb, as another possible name.

Macron has a history of coming up with unexpected premiers. The French constitution says he is free to appoint whomever he wants – however they must be able to survive no-confidence votes from the opposition.