Sawt Falasteen - Pressure grows on France's Macron to name new PM

Last week far-right and hard-left lawmakers joined efforts to oust the minority government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a historic no-confidence vote following a standoff over an austerity budget.

Macron was on Monday morning to receive independent MPs from the centrist Liot group, Green party bosses led by Marine Tondelier and the Communists.

Parliamentary speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said a new head of government should be appointed "within the next few hours".

She urged the president's centrist camp to join forces with the right-wing Republicans (LR), independent MPs and the Socialists.

"You would have a majority, so there is no longer any possibility of censure," she said on Sunday.

The successful parliamentary no-confidence vote, a first in more than six decades, deepened a political crisis and sparked calls for Macron, 46, to step down and call early elections.

A defiant Macron said last week he planned to serve out the remainder of his term, vowing "30 months of useful action" and promising to name a new prime minister in the "coming days".

At the weekend he had a brief respite from the domestic political upheaval, hosting world leaders including US president-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after a devastating fire in 2019.

Macron is now under huge pressure to form a government that can survive a no-confidence vote and pass a budget for next year in a bid to limit political and economic turmoil.

It took the French president more than 50 days to choose Barnier, from the Republican party, following inconclusive legislative elections in the summer that resulted in a hung parliament.

- 'Can't go on like this' -

Allies have urged Macron to move quickly this time.

"We can't go on like this," Macron's centrist ally Francois Bayrou said on Sunday, warning the French did not want uncertainty to continue.

Bayrou heads the MoDem party, which is allied to, but not part of, Macron's centrist force.

He has been tipped as a possible contender for prime minister. "If I can help us get through this, I will," he said.

However many do not support his candidacy.

"Mr Bayrou's political line did not win the legislative elections," Tondelier told broadcaster RTL ahead of Monday's meeting with Macron.

"We need a personality who is compatible with the left," added Raphael Glucksmann, founder of progressive left-wing movement Place Publique, adding he was hoping to bring on board Communist and Green MPs.

The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP), which was put together to prevent the far-right from coming to power, emerged as the largest bloc in the National Assembly after the summer elections.

The broad alliance includes the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), the Socialists, Communists and Greens.

Its leaders have long insisted Macron should appoint a prime minister from their ranks. The president earlier ruled that out.

Macron -- who has hoped to prise the Socialists away from their pact with the LFI -- received a boost when Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said he was ready to negotiate with the president's centrists and the right.

LFI's veteran leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said his party had given the Socialists "no mandate" to negotiate a deal with Macron.

On Friday, Macron met leaders of the parliamentary factions of his own centrist forces, the Socialist Party and the Republicans.

The far-right National Rally (RN) has not so far been invited to talks.

Nevertheless RN head Jordan Bardella has already demanded a meeting with the future prime minister.

"You can't pretend we're not here," he said.

Barnier, prime minister for only three months, remains in charge on a caretaker basis until a new government is appointed.

C.Hamad--SF-PST