Photo: Joel Saget Agence France-Presse Deploring, on France Inter radio, the “inconsistency” of Emmanuel Macron and a “denial of democracy”, Lucie Castets asked the president to take “his responsibilities and to appoint [her]” prime minister.
France Media Agency in Paris
Posted at 10:09 a.m.
- Europe
The candidate for prime minister designated by the French left, Lucie Castets, asked President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to “take responsibility” and appoint her, while asserting that a coalition between the left and the presidential camp was “impossible”.
The alliance of left-wing parties, called the New Popular Front (NFP), came first in the recent legislative elections, managed to agree on Tuesday on the name of Lucie Castets, a senior official of the City of Paris unknown to the general public. But President Macron rejected this candidacy.
Deploring, on the airwaves of France Inter radio, his “inconsistency” and a “denial of democracy”, Ms. Castets, 37, director of finance and purchasing at the City of Paris, asked him to take “his responsibilities and to appoint [her] as prime minister.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000“We cannot postpone this type of decision”
“The moment is serious and we cannot postpone this type of decision,” she said, while the Head of State indicated that he would not make any appointment before the end of the Olympic Games, in “mid-August”.
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She also deemed “a coalition with the presidential camp” “impossible”, due to “deep disagreements”. “There is no possible agreement between those who want everyone to pay their fair share of taxes and those who instead propose tax breaks for the most advantaged people,” she said.
After 16 days of negotiations which almost imploded their alliance, the different components of the NFP agreed to propose this personality from civil society and engaged in defense of public service.
The latter declared that it had among its “major priorities” the repeal of an unpopular pension reform carried out under the leadership of Emmanuel Macron, a “major tax reform so that everyone, individuals and multinationals, pays their fair share”, the revaluation of wages and the raising of social minimums, as well as the “end of the regression of public services”.
Which majority to pass reforms ?
But President Macron estimated that the NFP had “no majority whatsoever”.
“The question is not a name. The question is what majority can emerge in the Assembly so that a French government can pass reforms, pass a budget and move the country forward,” he said.
“The idea is to convince text after text, law after law,” retorted Ms. Castets, aware that her camp “does not have an absolute majority.”
For her, “the election results are absolutely clear. It is a rejection of the policy of the outgoing government.”
The French president's camp lost its majority in the National Assembly after its surprise dissolution, decided in the evening European elections which saw the far-right National Rally party triumph. The Lower House of Parliament is now divided into three blocs.
The resigned government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal remains responsible for current affairs, with a limited political role.< /p>