French President Emmanuel Macron put the responsibility of last week’s chaos squarely on opposition political forces in his first public comments since the crisis began.
After landing in Egypt for a peace summit aimed at ending the war in Gaza, the French president said that “the political forces that played with the destabilization of [Prime Minister] Sébastien Lecornu” are the only ones “responsible for the disorder.”
“I think that a lot of those who fed the division, the speculation did not live up to the expectations of the French and the moment for France,” he said. “Everyone’s duty is to reinforce stability and not to make bets on instability.”
Lecornu stepped down on Oct. 6, just 14 hours after naming his government, after his center-right coalition started falling apart over the cabinet’s makeup — only to be reappointed Friday after a week of strained talks with opposition forces over getting a government and a budget for France. A draft budget is expected to be submitted to the French National Assembly this week, but with no guarantee it will pass.
Macron did not say which political forces he felt were responsible for the disorder that spooked financial markets and raised speculation that the country was heading towards another snap parliamentary election last week.
Throughout the crisis, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and the far-left France Unbowed called forcefully for a fresh parliamentary election.
Macron’s remarks come at a time when the French president is coming under fire for not letting opposition forces head a minority government, even though he lost his parliamentary majority in a snap election last year.
Asked if he would call a snap election if Lecornu’s new government is toppled, the French president said he made no “bets” about the future.
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