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PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron accepted the prime minister’s resignation on Tuesday but retained him as head of a caretaker government as France prepares to host the Paris Olympics at the end of the month.
Macron “accepted” the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and other ministers on Tuesday, the president’s office said in a statement. Attal and other members of the government “will handle current affairs until a new government is formed,” the statement said.
Parliamentary elections this month resulted in the first time that France’s National Assembly governed without a dominant political bloc, and there is no timetable for when Macron must appoint a new prime minister.
The caretaker government led by Attar will focus only on handling day-to-day affairs.
In a statement, the president said: “In order to put this period to an end as quickly as possible, all republican forces must work together” to carry out “projects and actions at the service of the French people.”
The opening session of France’s most powerful lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, is scheduled for Thursday.
Normally, government members are not allowed to serve as lawmakers, but Tuesday’s move allows Attal to serve as a lawmaker and lead Macron’s centrist allies in the National Assembly. It also makes him immune to a no-confidence vote because he has already resigned and a caretaker government cannot be affected by such a vote.
France has been on the brink of government paralysis since National Assembly elections earlier this month split three major political factions: the New Popular Front left-wing coalition, Macron’s centrist allies and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.
The New Popular Front won the most seats, but fell far short of the outright majority needed to govern independently.
The three main parties in the left-wing coalition, the far-left France Inflexible, the Socialists and the Greens, have urged the president to seek them to form a new government, but their internal negotiations have turned into a fierce dispute over who to choose as prime minister.
France Indomitable suspended the talks on Monday, accusing the Socialists of sabotaging their candidate to succeed Attal.
Socialist leader Olivier Faure said on Tuesday that the left-wing coalition needed to “reflect, dialogue and resume discussion” if it wanted to meet “public expectations” and fulfill its promise to be “ready to govern.”
Faure acknowledged that lengthy discussions, public spats and occasional angry exchanges of words between coalition leaders were “not a good thing”. But “the stakes are high and it is not unusual for us to talk for a long time and sometimes we shout,” Faure told France Inter radio.
National Rally vice-president Sebastien Chenu said the quarrels among the left showed the New Popular Front was “not ready to govern”.
He also harshly criticized Macron on Tuesday, saying it was a “negation of democracy” that Attal was still in charge of the government after the last two elections (European Parliament and National Assembly).
In an interview with broadcasters Europe 1 and CNews, Chenu said that allowing him to continue to manage “current affairs” would be tantamount to “letting down” the French people.
“We can’t make old things new,” Chenu said. “Attar must pack his bags, him and all his ministers.”
Politicians from the three major parties are also vying for the presidency and key committees in France’s influential lower house, the National Assembly.
Manuel Bompard, an MP from the France Insubordinate party, said he supported the idea of blocking MPs from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally from leading parliamentary committees such as finance and defence.
Although Le Pen’s party came third in the election, behind Macron’s centrist and left-wing coalition, Bompard told France 2 television “there is no reason for us to help them get responsible positions”.
Marine Le Pen, a leading figure of the French far right and a member of the National Rally party, insisted that “all political forces must participate” in the workings of parliament.
“The people have spoken. They are represented by 577 deputies,” Le Pen said in a post on X. “Even if I were the last person to defend democracy, I insist that the Macronists, the New Popular Front, the National Rally and Eric Jyoti (an ally of the National Rally) must be represented in the legislature,” she added.
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