Macron slaps back at left’s bid to govern France
French president tries to rise above the political fray ahead of this month’s Paris Olympic Games
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday forcefully denied that the left should be given the opportunity to form a government after it won the most seats in this summer’s snap parliamentary elections.
In his first television interview since the vote took place, Macron quickly slapped down the pan-left New Popular Front (NFP) alliance’s candidate for prime minister — named just minutes before the interview began — and cast doubt on whether the left, which fell short of an absolute majority, “had a majority, whatsoever.”
The French president seemed to frame his thinking as rising above the political fray, saying the legislature needed “to do what all European democracies do, which is not in our tradition … to be able to make compromises.”
The comments infuriated his adversaries, with Green leader Marine Tondelier slamming Macron as “totally disconnect[ed] from reality.” Socialist leader Olivier Faure described the president’s interview as “a criminal diversion.”
After days of bickering over who to field as a candidate for prime minister, the NFP on Tuesday achieved a last-minute breakthrough before Macron was set to address the nation, backing a little-known Paris city official, Lucie Castets.
