Oct. 7 (UPI) — Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Tuesday called on President Emmanuel Macron to fix the country’s political crisis by appointing a new prime minister to get a budget passed for the coming year and bring forward the presidential election from 2027.
The intervention from Philippe, who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2020 in Macron’s first term, came a day after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu became the latest casualty in a revolving door of heads of France’s legislative branch that has seen five come and go in under two years.
Lecornu has, at Macron’s request, agreed to remain in post for 48 hours to “conduct final negotiations to define a platform for action and stability,” saying he would notify Macron if his efforts had been successful by the end of Wednesday.
Otherwise, Macron would “assume his responsibilities,” government sources told French media.
But even among Macron’s backers, support appeared to be ebbing away with the general secretary of his centrist Renaissance Party and former prime minister Gabriel Attal joining the chorus of criticism of the embattled president.
Attal said he “no longer understands the decisions made by the president of the republic,” that repeated attempts by Macron to reassert his authority had failed and that a power-sharing deal was the only option left.
“I think we should try something else,” said Attal.
Les Republicains’ David Lisnard, whose party was part of Macron’s ruling alliance, laid blame for the crisis squarely at the feet of Macron and called for him to go.
Executive Vice President Francois-Xavier Bellamy said LR would not allow Macron and his backers “a final lap.”
Marine Le Pen of the National Rally said Macron’s resignation would be a “wise decision,” saying fresh parliamentary elections were an “absolute necessity.”
RN President Jordan Bardella said he expected Macron to dissolve the legislature, the National Assembly, vowing that his party was ready to step in.
“There cannot be a return to stability without a return to the ballot box. It was very clearly Emmanuel Macron who decided this government himself. He has understood nothing of the political situation we are in,” said Bardella.
Lecornu resigned Monday, less than four weeks after being appointed by Macron, in response to a furious backlash from opposition parties over his newly announced government because it was stuffed with Macron allies.
They said Lecornu had reneged on his “profound break” with the status quo pledge that he made on Sept. 10 when he took the place of predecessor Francois Bayrou.
Bayrou was forced to quit after losing a confidence vote two days earlier that he called in a bid to force drastic government spending cuts of $51.6 billion through parliament.
