Macron 'alone in his castle': Center, left parties were all 'elected together as Republican Front'

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00:00Welcome. Our top story today. Seven weeks after his party was defeated in snap parliamentary

00:07elections, the French President Emmanuel Macron says the search for a new Prime Minister must

00:12continue. The left-wing New Popular Front Alliance won the most seats in that election

00:18ahead of Macron's centrist bloc and the far right, although without a working majority

00:24in Parliament. Last night, the President said he would not greenlight a Prime Minister from

00:29the leftist grouping, arguing it would be quickly forced from power in a confidence vote.

00:35Well, let's go straight on the programme now to the Elysee Palace, where Clovis Casali,

00:41our reporter, is covering developments for us today. Clovis, we understand the President

00:46is holding more meetings this Tuesday. Do we know who he's talking to today?

00:51Well, these are fresh talks, of course, but without key players, the left-wing bloc has

00:59decided not to attend, the French far right of Marine Le Pen not even invited. So President

01:04Macron is left basically with his allies and some independents, minor groups. Yesterday

01:11in a statement, the French presidency said that Emmanuel Macron would talk also with

01:18experienced figures, maybe former presidents like Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande,

01:23maybe former Prime Ministers. But what is certain is that there's a whole deal of uncertainty.

01:30France heading into the unknown as it's still waiting to know who will be the next Prime

01:36Minister and very little sign of the forming of a coalition government. Meanwhile, President

01:45Emmanuel Macron coming under increasing fire, criticised by his opponents who say that he

01:51is to blame for what they call chaos.

01:54Indeed, left-wing leaders not happy at all, Clovis. Manuel Bompar from France Unbowed

02:01saying Macron's actions are that of an anti-democratic coup. I mean, what do you make of that kind

02:07of language?

02:09Well, the left-wing is clearly coordinating its attacks today, focusing, of course, on

02:15President Macron. All of the parties who make up the New Popular Front, the socialists,

02:21the Greens, the radical left, all say that this is a denial of democracy. Socialist leader

02:27Olivier Faure even saying that President Macron is trying to steal their victory.

02:33Just to remind our viewers, the left-wing bloc finished first ahead of the others in

02:38the past elections. The problem is they did not get that outright majority. Therefore,

02:45if a prime minister comes from their ranks, they won't necessarily be getting the backing

02:49of the rest of the MPs. And that's what the Elysée Palace is arguing. The left-wing clearly

02:56furious. They say the next prime minister should come from their ranks. And the left-wing

03:01calling on all their supporters to get mobilised, turn up in mass on the streets for a huge

03:06protest set for September 7th.

03:11Chris Casale at the Elysée Palace for now. Thanks very much indeed. Well, let's get some

03:16more on this. I'm joined on the line now live by Renaud Foucault. He's from the University

03:21of Lancaster. Good afternoon to you, sir. Thanks for making the time to speak to us

03:25today.

03:26Hello.

03:27I want to ask you, first of all, about the particular context that we're in now. This

03:33caretaker government is the longest in the Fifth Republic. We could have had a route

03:39out yesterday if the president had agreed to allow the left to try and form a government.

03:45Instead, as we've been reporting, he said no. He said such a government would be toppled

03:49in a no-confidence vote if it had come to power. I just wonder what you made of Macron's

03:54rationale yesterday.

03:57I think it's a bit strange because, again, France is not a country used to that kind

04:02of negotiation. So I think Macron would have been much better in terms of making democratic

04:07consent to let Castel try and fail if he had to fail, but then come back. And it would

04:13be also easier for Emmanuel Macron to then convince Social Democrats and Green to separate

04:19from the rest of the left-wing bloc. So this is something that other countries who learn

04:22to work with compromise do. In Spain, for instance, in the last election, the right

04:26was first. Everybody knew that they had lost the election, but somehow they got a chance

04:30to go to parliament, lose a no-confidence vote, and then somebody else take care. I

04:35think Macron is trying to do something that the Netherlands would do or Belgium would

04:38do, like wait for a very long time, only go to parliament once they're a majority. But

04:42I don't think the citizens are ready for this, and I don't think they understand really what's

04:46going on. It looks from the outside like not very democratic.

04:50Yeah, it might not look particularly democratic, and that certainly is the allegation of those

04:55on the left. They're calling it undemocratic. Some of them are even calling it a coup d'etat.

05:01What about constitutionally, though? Does the president have the right to say no to

05:07a political grouping, even if they are the largest party? By convention, they've always

05:12formed the government, but does it have to be so?

05:15Well, by convention, there is no convention for a situation like the current one, which

05:19is basically one third, one third, one third in parliament. So the constitution simply

05:23says that the president nominates the prime minister. He has to find one that has a majority,

05:29and there is absolutely no precedent. Even the fact that the left is first, it's not

05:34that obvious, because when there was the election for the head of the parliament, it's actually

05:38the center on the right who allied to get the most votes. So it's not obvious. Macron

05:43is absolutely right in a sense that there will be no majority without the center. And

05:48in a way, what he's doing is simply an illustration of that fact, president or not president.

05:53There will be no parliamentary majority in France without at least the abstention of

05:58the center. It's really a matter of how to do it. And at the moment, again, I think the

06:03method doesn't look very good from the outside.

06:06And we know what the president's been saying. He says the left needs to cooperate with other

06:11parties to be flexible. But the left is trying to do that, isn't it? I mean, even Jean-Luc

06:16Mélenchon of the far left party, France Unbowed, suggesting that his MPs don't have to be

06:22part of a government if that would break this deadlock. That idea hasn't been accepted either.

06:28So what else can the left do now? They seem rather stuck.

06:33At the moment, the left say we will not join the current discussion. And at the moment,

06:37Emmanuel Macron is stuck because he's trying to build a majority with only his own MPs

06:42and a couple of friends. So the left at the moment, I think they will just wait and say,

06:46OK, you want an alternative. Show me what the alternative is. The far right is out of

06:50the picture at the moment. If the left is out, Macron will have to somehow convince them.

06:55And the price would, of course, be much, much higher if Macron imposed a prime minister.

07:00So if the prime minister was to secede, it was up to her to build a majority and convince the

07:06centre and some of the right not to oppose her. Now it's the other way around. If Macron really

07:10wants to convince the socialists and the Greens to leave the left, the price would be very,

07:16very, very high indeed, if there is any, because it might seem like a betrayal for them to actually

07:21leave their bloc because they were elected together. They were not elected as separate

07:25parties. And even more so, the centre and the left, everyone was elected together in the second

07:30round as a Republican front against the far right. So it's very hard to disentangle that.

07:35And the way Macron does it doesn't give a lot of possibilities for the left to express themselves

07:41in other ways than saying, no, this is not democracy. Well, Jean-Luc Mélenchon

07:45has come up with one idea, hasn't he, over the weekend, saying he might impeach the president

07:51if he's not happy with the direction that he's taking the country. Is that plausible? Could it

07:57happen? No, I don't think this is plausible because this is a long procedure. As far as

08:02I understand, you need a two third majority in the parliament and in the Senate. So that means that

08:07the Senate is a majority centre right at the moment. So it would mean that the right would

08:12have to vote to destitute the president. I don't think this will happen. I think there will be

08:16demonstrations in the street. I cannot expect it to be as massive as retirement because in the end,

08:21it's just politicians demonstrating about government. This is not the life of citizens.

08:26It's not a stake the same way as in a pension reform of the yellow jacket. So I don't expect

08:30it to be massive. But something must happen. Something must move. And I think the only way

08:35is to have a form of failure. So Macron has to try nominate someone. Let's see if it works. And

08:41then somebody has to try. Without that, it will look like the president alone in his castle trying

08:46to decide everything. Just a final question for you. Paint me a picture, if you don't mind,

08:52where do you think we are in a month's time? Has Macron broken the deadlock? And if so,

08:58how did he do it? So Macron, in a way, has won the election in the way that the centre is necessary

09:05for any coalition. In a month, I would have expected it to happen faster. But in a month,

09:10I would expect to have at least one failure from the left and one failure from the centre.

09:15And then, yes, there will be a case to build what seemed to be the obvious majority in France,

09:19which is a centre left majority, perhaps with support from the outside by the far left,

09:25La France Insoumise. I don't really see the far right supporting a minority centre government,

09:30but this is still plausible. But I think in a month, there is more than enough time for Macron

09:36and for the political parties to sit down, see what their headlines actually are and accept,

09:41not to lose the face and so not let Macron decide everything on his own, but let also

09:46others come up with proposals and bring their own ideas on the table.

09:50Renaud Foucault, great to get your perspective, sir. Thanks very much indeed.

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