PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron was on Monday set to hold a series of consultations with party bosses as pressure grew on him to name a new prime minister and defuse a political crisis.
\nLast week far-right and hard-left lawmakers joined efforts to oust the minority government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a historic no-confidence vote following a standoff over an austerity budget.
\nMacron was on Monday morning to receive independent MPs from the centrist Liot group, Green party bosses led by Marine Tondelier and the Communists.
\nParliamentary speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said a new head of government should be appointed \u201cwithin the next few hours.\u201d
\nShe urged the president\u2019s centrist camp to join forces with the right-wing Republicans (LR), independent MPs and the Socialists.
\n\u201cYou would have a majority, so there is no longer any possibility of censure,\u201d she said on Sunday.
\nThe successful parliamentary no-confidence vote, a first in more than six decades, deepened a political crisis and sparked calls for Macron, 46, to step down and call early elections.
\nA defiant Macron said last week he planned to serve out the remainder of his term, vowing \u201c30 months of useful action\u201d and promising to name a new prime minister in the \u201ccoming days.\u201d
\nAt the weekend he had a brief respite from the domestic political upheaval, hosting world leaders including US president-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after a devastating fire in 2019.
\nMacron is now under huge pressure to 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.
\nIt took the French president more than 50 days to choose Barnier, from the Republican party, following inconclusive legislative elections in the summer that resulted in a hung parliament.
\nAllies have urged Macron to move quickly this time.
\n\u201cWe can\u2019t go on like this,\u201d Macron\u2019s centrist ally Francois Bayrou said on Sunday, warning the French did not want uncertainty to continue.
\nBayrou heads the MoDem party, which is allied to, but not part of, Macron\u2019s centrist force.
\nHe has been tipped as a possible contender for prime minister. \u201cIf I can help us get through this, I will,\u201d he said.
\nHowever many do not support his candidacy.
\n\u201cMr Bayrou\u2019s political line did not win the legislative elections,\u201d Tondelier told broadcaster RTL ahead of Monday\u2019s meeting with Macron.
\n\u201cWe need a personality who is compatible with the left,\u201d added Raphael Glucksmann, founder of progressive left-wing movement Place Publique, adding he was hoping to bring on board Communist and Green MPs.
\nThe left-wing New Popular Front (NFP), which was put together to prevent the far-right from coming to power, emerged as the largest bloc in the National Assembly after the summer elections.
\nThe broad alliance includes the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), the Socialists, Communists and Greens.
\nIts leaders have long insisted Macron should appoint a prime minister from their ranks. The president earlier ruled that out.
\nMacron \u2014 who has hoped to prise the Socialists away from their pact with the LFI \u2014 received a boost when Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said he was ready to negotiate with the president\u2019s centrists and the right.
\nLFI\u2019s veteran leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said his party had given the Socialists \u201cno mandate\u201d to negotiate a deal with Macron.
\nOn Friday, Macron met leaders of the parliamentary factions of his own centrist forces, the Socialist Party and the Republicans.
\nThe far-right National Rally (RN) has not so far been invited to talks.
\nNevertheless RN head Jordan Bardella has already demanded a meeting with the future prime minister.
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t pretend we\u2019re not here,\u201d he said.
\nBarnier, prime minister for only three months, remains in charge on a caretaker basis until a new government is appointed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron was on Monday set to hold a series of consultations with party bosses as pressure grew on him to name a new prime minister and defuse a political crisis. Last week far-right and hard-left lawmakers joined efforts to oust the minority government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a historic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-448259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n