Emmanuel Macron and his allies have proposed a government of national unity to overcome the parliamentary stalemate after Sunday’s inconclusive elections, but face stiff resistance even from moderate politicians who had been seen as more likely to accept.
The French president is due to address the nation on Wednesday at 8pm local time, the Elysee Palace announced.
“What is on the table is a way to find the majority so that we can move forward to reform and transform our country,” Olivier Véran, the minister in charge of relations with Parliament, said on Wednesday.
The Macron government, which failed to win a majority in the National Assembly in Sunday’s election, said it offered “all options”, including a broad coalition because “we are saying the situation is serious and we need to be able to to join forces and find areas of consensus, “Véran told BFMTV.
Without the support of some of his political opponents, including members of the conservative Les Républicains or the Socialist Party, Macron will fight to push through any legislation to carry out his economic reforms or deal with crises in France’s health and education systems. .
Fabien Roussel, the communist leader whose party has joined a red-green alliance dominated by far-left politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said Macron had suggested a government of national unity when he met with him. at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday. Marine Le Pen, when asked if Macron had made the same proposal to him as the leader of the far-right Rassemblement National, said “yes.”
Edouard Philippe, mayor of Le Havre and former Macron prime minister who joined forces with the president in the legislative election campaign, called the idea a “grand coalition”, while François Bayrou, another Macron ally leading the party Modem centrist, he said he had told the president it was important to go as far as possible to achieve “national unity.”
Macron’s problem is that the two major opposition blocs in the newly elected National Assembly are Mélenchon’s New Ecological and Social People’s Union (Nupes) and Le Pen’s RN, groups dominated by left-wing nationalist politicians and right that will find the liberal president. it is difficult or impossible to work on.
Véran has already said that the minority government is not collaborating with La France Insoumise de Mélenchon (France Unbowed, the largest component of Nupes) or with the RN on the grounds that they have no Republican values. “Neither extreme left, nor extreme right,” he said.
This leaves the Conservative LR and the most moderate Nupa parties, including the Socialists and the Greens, but so far all have been reluctant to consider reaching an agreement with Macron, except for the case-by-case approval of laws. individuals.
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LR President Christian Jacob said he did not want to block the country’s institutions, but his MPs did not want a formal coalition pact with Macron.
“It’s hard for Macron for obvious reasons to find people to work with on the RN and most of the Nupes coalition,” said Martin Quencez, deputy director of the Paris office of the German Marshall Fund, a think tank. “In many cases they were elected on an anti-Macron platform.” But he added: “This is not the end of the story, this is still very much in motion.”