4 months ago
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Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he won't name a new government until after the end of the Paris Olympics.
It comes after the New Popular Front (NFP), a left-wing coalition that makes up the largest group in France's parliament after recent elections, put forward a little-known civil servant, Lucie Castets, as a candidate for prime minister.
Responding to the proposal, Mr Macron said that to make a new appointment before mid-August would "create disorder".
Left-wing politicians have accused him of trying to "cancel the result of the legislative elections".
The Olympics get under way with an opening ceremony in central Paris on Friday and will conclude on 11 August.
Mr Macron accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal following heavy losses for their centrist party in parliamentary elections that concluded at the start of this month.
However, Mr Attal and his ministers agreed to stay on in the form of a caretaker government until replacements could be appointed.
Under the French system, the president traditionally appoints a prime minister who is able to command a majority in the National Assembly.
No party now has a majority, but the NFP controls at least 182 of 577 seats, putting it in the strongest position to propose a candidate.
On Tuesday, after weeks of negotiations and just an hour before Mr Macron was due to give a television interview, the group put forward Ms Castets, citing her record of work to defend public services.
Ms Castets is a 37-year-old economist and civil servant who currently works as director of finance and purchasing for the City of Paris, but has no background in party politics.
The choice is unusual as the prime minister is usually a serving member of the National Assembly.
Writing on X, Ms Castets said it was "with great humility but also great conviction" that she accepted the nomination.
But asked about the NFP's proposal during an interview with national public broadcaster France 2, Mr Macron said: "This is not the issue. The name is not the issue. The issue is: Which majority can emerge at the assembly?
"Of course we need to be concentrated on the Games until mid-August.
"Until mid-August, we're in no position to change things, because it would create disorder."
He also said no parliamentary group had emerged from the elections with a majority and that it was not yet certain which would be in a position to appoint a prime minister.
He said he would seek to appoint a prime minister with the "broadest backing possible".
Mr Macron's comments sparked an angry reaction from some members of the NFP.
Marine Tondelier, national secretary of The Ecologists, one of the constituent parties of the group, said Mr Macron "must come out of denial".
“We won, we have a program, we have a prime minister,” she wrote on X.
“Our voters now expect the social justice and environmental justice measures they asked for to be put into practice.
“The president can’t block them like this.”
Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of France Unbowed, accused him of trying to "cancel the result of the legislative elections".
"This is an unbearable denial of democracy," he said. "In France, there is no presidential veto when the people express their will".
