Macron, defying calls to resign, struggles on in search for stable French government

PARIS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron on Friday began his latest search for a new prime minister to lead France's unruly parliament, after rejecting demands he quit to end a crisis he said was driven by the far right and extreme left's "anti-republican front."

In a prime time address on Thursday, Macron said he would announce a new prime minister in the coming days to replace Michel Barnier, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote by lawmakers angered by his belt-tightening 2025 budget bill.

But it remains to be seen how Macron can cobble together enough support in parliament to pass a 2025 budget bill, or install a prime minister with any sort of longevity.

Macron's best hopes appear to lie with the Socialist Party, a moderate leftist grouping with 66 seats in the National Assembly. The Socialists voted to topple Barnier this week, but have since signalled they might be willing to support another government.

If Macron can win their backing, a new prime minister would likely have the numbers to stave off no-confidence motions from Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally and the hard-left France Unbowed.

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said he would meet with Macron on Friday, with his primary demand being a leftist prime minister. He also said he would be willing to make concessions on a previous demand for Macron's pension reform to be scrapped.

The Socialist Party is, just behind France Unbowed, the second-largest member of the New Popular Front, a broad left-wing electoral alliance that won the most seats, 193, during this summer's snap legislative elections.

"We cannot, if we are responsible, say that we are simply for the repeal (of the pension reform), without saying how we are financing it," Faure said. "We're going to discuss with the head of state because the situation in the country deserves it ... that doesn't mean I've become a Macronist."

Faure later said that Macron should also seek to bring in the Greens and Communists.

MACRON REJECTS BLAME 

Macron, who sparked France's festering political crisis in June by calling a snap election that delivered a hung parliament, was defiant in his address to nation.  

"I'm well aware that some want to pin the blame on me for this situation, it's much more comfortable," he said.

But he said he will "never bear the responsibilities" of lawmakers who decided to bring down the government just days before Christmas. 

He said Barnier was toppled by the far-right and hard left in an "anti-republican front" that sought to create chaos. Their sole motivation, he added, was the 2027 presidential election, "to prepare for it and to precipitate it."

Despite pressure for him to resign before 2027, Macron said he wasn't going anywhere.

"The mandate you gave me democratically is a five-year mandate, and I will exercise it fully until its end," he said, adding he would name a new prime minister in the coming days and push for a special budgetary bill that rolls over the 2024 legislation for next year.

The next government would pursue a 2025 budget bill early in the new year, he said, so that "the French people don't pay the bill for this no-confidence motion."



(Writing by Gabriel Stargardter)