Xavier Bertrand, Bernard Cazeneuve… A farandole of names floats above Matignon. Fifty days after the resignation of the Attal government, Emmanuel Macron continues his quest for a Prime Minister, capable of asserting himself in the face of a fragmented Assembly, an interminable saga that is beginning to exasperate the political class. “The Elysée is looking for the five-legged sheep”, ironize our Belgian neighbors from Eveninglisting a whole list of criteria that the future head of government should have.
For its part, the Swiss daily The Time sums up the balancing act that the French president must play: “The new head of government will be faced with the difficult task of putting together a ministerial team that can both represent the republican front and give an impression of alternation.” While the Swiss speak of a real “headache”, they consider these extensions “difficult to accept from a democratic and institutional point of view”.
As a reminder, the New Popular Front – a left-wing coalition – came out on top in the last early legislative elections without winning an absolute majority. Recalling that there are now three blocs in the National Assembly (New Popular Front, the traditional centre-right with the Macronist centre, and the far-right of Marine Le Pen), the Spanish newspaper The Country believes that “Macron has no choice but to accept that his movement is in decline, that he lost the elections and that he has no power to impose a name.”
Macron “must learn humility”
While the Spanish fear a “blockade in France”, the Germans of The Daily Newspaper, left-wing newspaper, do not hide their annoyance: “For how much longer?”, is the title of one of their articles. Its author criticizes a French president incapable of making “compromises” and for whom “business comes first” (referring to his recent trip to Serbia). Across the Channel, the point of view of the Guardiana British daily newspaper also classified as left-wing, is even more blunt: “A humiliated president must learn humility,” grumbles an editorialist while the ruling coalition came third in the last election. According to the English newspaper, Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to accept a minority left-wing government is “a mistake.”
Impatience can also be seen in Politico, American specialist media: “After weeks of political crisis; increasingly deep, the pressure is increasing on Emmanuel Macron – including within his own camp.” Its journalists warn that “time is running out”, as the government has until October 1 to submit a draft 2025 budget to Parliament. However, the Irish of The Irish Times recall that “there is no regulation requiring Mr Macron to nominate a candidate from the party that won the most seats, nor to specify a timetable for a decision.” The Dublin-based colleagues also note that “the absence of any dominant political bloc is unprecedented in France’s recent political history.”
And other media prefer to play the optimistic card: “The wait should soon be over,” hopes the Italian political magazine, The Manifesto. The newspaper The Republic clings to the possibility of Bernard Cazeneuve as a “respected institutional figure”.