France's Macron vows to stay on, promises PM to be named in 'coming days'

By Francesco Fontemaggi, Stuart Williams and Alice Hackman for AFP

President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed to name a new prime minister in the coming days to prevent France from sliding deeper into political turmoil, rejecting growing pressure from the opposition to resign.

Macron adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation, seeking to limit an escalating political crisis after Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was ousted in a historic no-confidence vote.

Contemporary France's shortest-serving premier, Barnier resigned after Wednesday's parliamentary defeat in a standoff over the budget forced his government to step down, the first such toppling of a French administration in over 60 years.

Macron now faces the task for the third time this year of selecting a new prime minister and did not come up with a name in his address.

"I will appoint a prime minister in the coming days," he said, adding this person would be charged with forming a "government of general interest" with a priority of passing a budget.

He also lashed out at the French far right and hard left for uniting in an "anti-republican front" to bring down the government.

He said lawmakers had "knowingly" chosen "to topple the budget and the government just days before the Christmas holidays".

The French presidency said earlier that Barnier and his ministers would remain "in charge of daily business until the appointment of a new government".

'Do the impossible'

Limiting any impression of political chaos is all the more important for Macron given that on Saturday he will host world leaders - including US President-elect Donald Trump - for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after a devastating 2019 fire.

Pointing to how the edifice was rebuilt within the five-year timeline he had set, Macron said: "It's the proof we're able to do great things, that we can do the impossible."

In an unusual move, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, France's top diplomat for just two-and-a-half months, urged unity in a message on social media, saying "instability is vulnerability" at a time of international uncertainty.

A majority of lawmakers on Wednesday supported the no-confidence vote proposed by the hard left and backed by the far right headed by Marine Le Pen.

Barnier's ejection in record time came after snap parliamentary elections in June resulted in a hung parliament. No political force was able to form an overall majority and the far right held the key to the government's survival.

The trigger for Barnier's ouster was his 2025 budget plan, including austerity measures unacceptable to a majority in parliament, but which he argued were necessary to stabilise France's finances.

On Monday he forced through a social security financing bill without a vote, but the ousting of the government means France is still without a budget.

'To the end'

New legislative elections cannot be called until a year after the previous ones in summer 2024.

But while Macron has more than two years of his presidential term left, some opponents are calling on him to resign to break the deadlock.

According to a poll by Odoxa-Backbone Consulting for Le Figaro daily, 59 percent of French people want the president to step down, while a survey by Harris for RTL put the figure even higher, at 64 percent.

Bur Macron said: "The mandate that you gave to me democratically (in 2022 elections) is a five-year mandate and I will exercise it fully, right up to the end.

"The 30 months we have ahead of us must be 30 months of useful action for the country."

But he admitted his decision to call snap parliamentary elections this summer that resulted in a hung parliament "was not understood".

"Many have blamed me for it and I know, many continue to blame me. It's a fact and it's my responsibility," he said.

Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said that Macron was the "cause of the problem" in France "and would go due to the force of events" before his term ends.

Barnier is Macron's fifth prime minister since coming to power in 2017. Each successive premier has served for a shorter period and, given the composition of the National Assembly, there is no guarantee that Barnier's successor would last any longer.

Loyalist Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Macron's centrist ally Francois Bayrou have been touted as possible contenders, as has former Socialist premier and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Bayrou, who leads the MoDem party, had lunch with the president at the Elysee, a source close to him told AFP.

-AFP