France: Macron does not want to appoint a new prime minister after the Olympics

French President Emmanuel Macron He does not want to appoint a new prime minister before the end of the Olympics. On Tuesday evening, Macron told France 2 TV: “We must focus on the Olympics until mid-August, and then my job will be to appoint a prime minister based on the discussions.”

Current Prime Minister Gabriel Artell His government remains in office. Macron hopes to prevent political unrest during the Summer Olympics, which begin on Friday.

The president can appoint whomever he wants, but it depends on the prime minister to get a majority in the National Assembly to support the government’s legislative proposals. However, the early elections led to a deadlock with none of the three major camps having a majority.

French left proposes finance expert as prime minister

Meanwhile, the French left has agreed on an economic expert who is largely unknown to the public as a candidate for prime minister. The New Popular Front, an electoral coalition, nominated Lucie Casteis, the former finance minister of the city of Paris, for the post. “The New Popular Front now has a candidate. A promise made,” Socialist leader Olivier Faure wrote in X. In the interview, Macron did not mention the proposed candidate.

In her initial reaction, Castex said she accepted the nomination “with humility but also with conviction.” She considers herself a “credible and serious” candidate. One of their first priorities is to repeal the pension reform that would have raised the retirement age from 62 to 64 by Macron.

The left-wing Greens electoral alliance describes the 37-year-old as a champion of public services and opponent of pensions for 64-year-olds. She is a senior public servant working to combat tax fraud.

Climate expert decides not to run for office

Climate expert Laurence Tubiana, who was also involved in the discussions for the prime ministership, announced the day before that he had decided not to run for office. FranceThe largest group within the New Popular Front) has openly opposed her and accused her of being too close to French President Emmanuel Macron.

The New Popular Front unexpectedly came in first place in Macron’s early parliamentary elections in early July. Traditionally, the largest bloc in the National Assembly rejects its candidate for prime minister.

The newly elected National Assembly is now composed and divided into eleven factions. However, she is effectively out of work, as the current “standby government” can no longer propose any legislation. Macron wants to form some kind of coalition with the moderate right and the socialists, but neither of them wants to participate. He announced new elections after the victory of the right-wing populist National Rally (RN) in the European elections.