Macron resumes talks to appoint new prime minister

French president returns to negotiating table to find Gabriel Attal’s replacement

Emmanuel Macron returned to the negotiating table on Friday to appoint a new prime minister six weeks after France’s failed snap election.
The French president began meeting with party leaders from the Left, Centre and Right with the aim of naming a new prime minister.
An Elysee office official said: “Faced with this parliament of minority [parties], there is a need for political leaders to get along with each other.” The election “forces everyone to change tack and enter into a coalition logic”, he added.
Whoever Mr Macron names will face a tough job, with parliamentary approval of the 2025 budget one of many challenges at a time when France is under pressure from the European Commission and bond markets to reduce its deficit.
Who will become prime minister – and whether they can get a hung parliament to back any reforms – is still very much an open question.
Mr Macron’s gamble to call the snap parliamentary election backfired, with his centrist coalition losing dozens of seats in the June 30 and July 7 ballots, which delivered a hung parliament.
Gabriel Attal, the outgoing prime minister, steered France through the Paris Olympics in a caretaker role. But the break is over and a successor must be named.
Mr Macron has so far ignored the candidate agreed on by the Left-wing’s alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP), which topped the vote, pointing out that, despite being first, they are far from an absolute majority in parliament.
Instead, he has called for leaders to strike deals beyond party lines to form a government that would have a solid majority.
The NFP wants its candidate Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old senior civil servant, to be named prime minister.
Ms Castets told a rally in the western France city of Tours late on Thursday: “We’ll remind the president of his obligation to respect the French’s choice.”
Fabien Roussel, the Communist party leader whose party also belongs to the NFP alliance, said on Friday that not appointing Castets would trigger a severe crisis.
But Ms Castets’ chances of getting the job are slim. A source close to Mr Macron told Reuters earlier this month that the president believes the new parliament’s centre of gravity is to the centre or the centre-Right.
Other possible candidates include Xavier Bertrand, a conservative regional president, and Bernard Cazeneuve, former Socialist prime minister, sources said. 
French media recently mentioned Karim Bouamrane, the socialist mayor of an impoverished Paris suburb, as another possible name.