France: Macron Rules Out Leftist Government, Mélenchon Wants Him Removed

Emmanuel Macron is planning new consultations on August 27 after the categorical refusal of leftist Lucie Castets. The 37-year-old official was proposed by the New People’s Front (NFP) as prime minister even before the Olympics.

Seven weeks after the vote, France is not breaking the deadlock, and Macron, who justified his rejection of the left’s proposal “in the name of institutional stability,” will listen to everyone in the new consultations, except for France Unconquered (LFI), the Rassemblement Nationale (RN), and former Republican right-winger Eric Ciotti.

Macron, explaining his refusal to Castets that an NFP government would be immediately “censored,” invited the leftist alliance to cooperate with other political forces.

“He is responsible for ensuring that the country is neither blocked nor weakened. The ruling political parties should not forget the exceptional circumstances of the election of their deputies in the second round of legislative elections,” explained the French president, recalling that in the bloc “against RN” in the second round of elections, many winning left-wing deputies received votes from the center and right, and vice versa.

Time is running out, and the “Olympic truce” in French domestic politics has been expired for more than two weeks now. Meanwhile, the LFI, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has confirmed its intention to file a motion to dismiss Macron. “The president of the Republic has just created an exceptionally serious situation. The popular and political response must be swift and decisive. The petition will be filed if he fails to fulfill his duties, which is clearly incompatible with the exercise of his mandate,” wrote X Social Network.