Talks to form new French government go on but no sign of breakthrough

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00:00More than six weeks after snap legislative elections, France still has no proper government.

00:05President Macron began a new round of political

00:09negotiations on Wednesday aimed at finding a viable prime minister amid a hung parliament. In a break with tradition,

00:15Macron is refusing to appoint a prime minister from the winningest party in July's vote. The left-wing New Popular Front Alliance came in

00:22first place, but without an actual majority.

00:25The president is instead trying to cobble together a new coalition with conservatives, but striking out there as well.

00:32He's set to head to Serbia for a two-day visit on Thursday,

00:35but he's squeezing in some meetings before he leaves.

00:38France 24's Clovis Casali has been following the political action all week from the Elysee Palace. He's there now.

00:45Clovis, what is on Macron's agenda for today?

00:47One more talk, this time with regional figures.

00:54Carole Delga, a socialist from the Occitanie region near the Pyrenees, and you've got Renaud Muselier from the Provence

01:03region, and Emmanuel Macron also meeting with David Lyssena, who's the president of the

01:08Associations of Mayors here in France.

01:11It's a way for the French president to really show that he's a consulting, trying to talk to as many

01:17figures as possible, and also maybe try to better understand the mood of the people outside of

01:25Paris. Clearly, the French president is struggling to find a name that would get a consensus, the backing of a majority of MPs in

01:33Parliament.

01:35Busy schedule for the French president with these last-minute meetings, and then just after, he'll be meeting with the British Prime Minister

01:42Keir Starmer, not to talk about French politics, presumably, but to talk about the strategy regarding Ukraine, and also the

01:50relationship between the UK and the European Union.

01:54So, Clovis, tell us more about

01:56Carole Delga. Why is she so important to these negotiations, and what is she asking for?

02:03Well, an interesting meeting with Carole Delga, because she is a socialist, but she's opposed to her party line of

02:11negotiating and conducting an alliance with the radical left France, on board of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

02:16And, of course, we all know that President Macron and the right-wing and the center refuse to

02:22make an alliance or a coalition government with the France, on board of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, seen as

02:29extremist. Carole Delga now saying, and she's an opponent of her party leader, Olivier Faure,

02:35she says that there must be more talks with President Macron,

02:40moreover, with other parties, in order to form some kind of coalition, not just with the left, but with other parties,

02:48with other

02:50figures. And, if you want to be cynical, maybe

02:53President Emmanuel Macron is also trying to exploit the cracks within the socialist

03:00party, because, again, Carole Delga is an opponent of Olivier Faure, the current party leader, and maybe

03:08Emmanuel Macron is trying to recruit or at least convince some socialists, such as Carole Delga, that there is another way.

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