00:01At a lunch at the Elyseus Palace on Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron urged the government to work with the Socialist Party in order to broaden their base and woo the Socialists away from a union with the hard left.
00:14It's advice that some of the governing coalition, with an eye on the future, seem minded to heed.
00:20I think we are capable of reaching out and that they too are capable of reaching out to save what matters most, our institutions.
00:27But not seemingly the Prime Minister.
00:30Is it logical or coherent to say, I'm going to bring down your government and then later you'll support me?
00:37I don't think that works.
00:39Olivier Faure's approach, which he makes no secret of, is that he wants to become Prime Minister.
00:44I think this approach is risky.
00:47François Bayrou has so far made no concessions to the Socialists on his budget plans
00:51and has dismissed their counter-proposals, which they presented last week,
00:56and which would see the deficit cut by 21.7 billion euros next year, half what Bayrou says is needed.
01:03The Socialists and its leader Olivier Faure have wasted no time in putting themselves forward to take over,
01:09if Bayrou's government falls as expected next week.
01:12The priority must be investment and tax justice to increase your purchasing power,
01:18by reviving economic activity, creating jobs and enabling you to live better.
01:24That is what any government should undertake.
01:26And since this government does not understand that, then the next one will.
01:30And we are willing to be the next one.
01:33Faure has urged Macron to appoint a left-wing Prime Minister,
01:37in line with the results of last summer's snap polls,
01:40when an alliance of leftist parties won the most seats but fell short of an absolute majority.
01:44The move, though, may have alienated the Socialists' hard-left allies,
01:50with the leader of France on Baud, Jean-Luc Mélenchon,
01:52quick to condemn Faure for declaring himself at the disposal of the President.
01:57Bayrou is due to meet with the Socialists on Thursday morning.
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