French President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly refused the offer of resignation from his prime minister despite calls from the far-left to appoint a leftist from their ranks or resign after coming out on top of the legislative elections.
Given that no party won an outright majority, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal offered his resignation to the president on Monday morning. Attal became the youngest and first openly gay prime minister earlier this year, after Macron installed him in the position, replacing Élisabeth Borne, whose popularity, plummeted after pushing through a raise to the retirement age without a vote in the National Assembly.
Despite apparently not having the votes for Attal to stay on as his deputy, Macron reportedly asked the PM to not resign “for the moment,” according to Le Figaro. At a meeting in the Élysée Palace on Monday morning Macron beseeched Attal to stay in office to “ensure the stability of the country”.
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— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 7, 2024
Following the stunning results for the New Popular Front, longtime leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon demanded that the president either “appoint a prime minister from our ranks” or resign.
There has been widespread concern in France, and elsewhere, that the snap elections called by Macron could result in Mélenchon becoming the prime minister, which many would find untenable due to his radical socialist policies and his history of cosying up to radical Islamist elements and downplaying the rising antisemitism in France.
The leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) — the largest faction within the New Popular Front — Mathilde Panot argued on Monday that Mélenchon should “absolutely not be disqualified” from consideration for being installed in the Hôtel Matignon as PM.
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— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 8, 2024
However, should the New Popular Front be given the reigns of power, their socialist policies could risk further exacerbating the looming debt crisis, with the country currently being around 3 trillion euros ($3.2 trillion) in debt or around 110 per cent of GDP. The leftist alliance has sought to overturn last year’s pension reforms, which raised the retirement age from 60 to 62, a move that would only add to the mounting debt pile.
Outgoing economy minister Bruno Le Maire hailed the defeat of the populist National Rally in Sunday’s elections but warned on Monday that France is at “immediate risk” of a “financial crisis” and “economic decline” and that the New Popular Front’s “exorbitant, ineffective and dated” socialist approach to the economy would only risk further damage.
“The second risk is an ideological fracture of the nation,” he added, saying that the government “must provide answers to the anger and legitimate concerns of our fellow citizens, in particular, the 10 million who voted for the National Rally. We must act differently. We must listen, hear, and respond without delay, involving all the forces of the nation.”
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— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 16, 2024
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