France's Macron Seeks New PM And A Way Out Of Political Crisis

Umer Jamshaid Published December 07, 2024 | 12:40 AM

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Dec, 2024) President Emmanuel Macron on Friday sat down with party leaders on the left and right in a bid to hammer out a compromise that would give France a new prime minister and a path out of crisis.

Macron adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation on Thursday evening, 24 hours after Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government had been ousted in a historic no-confidence vote.

He vowed to name a new prime minister in the "coming days", rejected growing pressure from the opposition to resign and blamed an "anti-republican front" of the hard left and far right for France's woes.

Barnier stepped down as contemporary France's shortest-serving premier after Wednesday's successful parliamentary no-confidence vote, a first in more than six decades.

"I will appoint a prime minister in the coming days," Macron said, adding that a "government of general interest" would be formed to pass a budget.

Barnier, premier for only three months, will remain in charge on a caretaker basis until a new government is appointed, as will his ministers.

Macron on Friday met leaders of the parliamentary factions of his own centrist forces, the Socialist Party and the right-wing Republicans.

The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) and far-right National Rally (RN) have not so far been invited to talks.

People close to the presidency said, however, that Macron would speak with the leaders of the Communist Party, the Greens and LFI on the telephone at a later stage.

Macron has an additional incentive to limit political chaos as on Saturday he hosts world leaders -- including US president-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after a devastating 2019 fire.