Sawt Falasteen - Macron eyes broad alliance to form new French govt

Macron had suggested a "new method" to put together an executive, Greens chief Marine Tondelier said after meeting him at his Elysee Palace office.

After July's snap elections produced no clear majority, Macron took almost two months to name conservative Barnier as premier.

He was then toppled last week in a no-confidence vote over a cost-cutting draft budget for 2025 meant to tackle France's yawning deficit.

New polls are ruled out until the summer, leaving Macron this time around to call for a "meeting of different political forces to discuss a platform" that could unite them in government, Tondelier said.

Until now, Macron had only been meeting party leaders individually.

But cobbling together any majority will be tricky in a parliament almost evenly divided between the NFP left-wing alliance, Macron's centrists and conservatives, and the far-right National Rally (RN).

Macron was "very clear about the fact that as far as he is concerned, the RN is not within the circle of parties willing to talk", Tondelier said on Monday.

The RN had initially helped prop up Barnier's minority government before supporting his downfall.

It leaves the left, centre and centre-right to try and find common ground after clashing fiercely ever since Macron's first presidential win in 2017.

- Under pressure -

Macron's call for a broad-based meeting suggests a new executive will not be put together quickly.

His ally, parliamentary speaker Yael Braun-Pivet, had earlier said a name should come "within the next few hours".

She called for Macron's centrists to join conservative Republicans (LR), independent MPs and the Socialists to form an absolute majority that would survive a no-confidence vote.

Others have called for Macron, 46, to himself resign and trigger a new presidential poll.

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

The weekend reopening of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral, refurbished after a devastating 2019 fire, offered a brief respite from the political crisis as he hosted world leaders including US president-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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.

- 'Can't go on like this' -

Allies have urged Macron to move quickly.

"We can't go on like this," Macron's centrist ally Francois Bayrou said on Sunday, warning that 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 prominent centre-left politician Raphael Glucksmann.

A potential split in the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance of Greens, Communists, Socialists and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) could prove key to building a new government.

Formed to help keep the far right out of power, the NFP emerged as the largest bloc in the National Assembly after the summer elections.

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

And the latest government crisis has brought NFP infighting to the fore, with LFI insisting that no cooperation with Macron is possible, while other parties have been open to talks.

Meanwhile, RN head Jordan Bardella, whose party has not been invited to talks with Macron, earlier 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.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST