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00:00You're watching Around the World with me, Delon D'Souza, at the headlines this hour.
00:05Hours after naming a new government, Sébastien Lecornu out as France's prime minister.
00:10The 39-year-old stepping down after being in the job for under a month.
00:15Lecornu's resignation piling pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve parliament or quit.
00:20We'll be bringing you the latest political reactions coming in.
00:30A political earthquake here in France after Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced he's out.
00:42The resignation comes hours after he unveiled his government.
00:45Lecornu was in the prime minister's post for under a month and he becomes the fifth person in the job in two years.
00:51His resignation renewing the focus on France's president Emmanuel Macron under pressure to dissolve the National Assembly like he did last year
00:59or quit himself.
01:01Here's why France's prime minister said he was left with no choice but to go.
01:07On Monday morning, the conditions were no longer in place for me to perform my duties as prime minister
01:15and enable the government to appear before the National Assembly tomorrow.
01:20There were three reasons for this.
01:21The first was that these political parties pretended not to see the change,
01:26the profound break represented by the decision not to invoke Article 49 of the Constitution.
01:33In other words, there was essentially no longer any pretext for prior censorship.
01:39The second reason is that the political parties continued to act as if they had an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
01:47Basically, I found myself in a situation where I was ready to compromise,
01:52but each political party wants the other political party to adopt its entire program.
01:59And the third thing is that the composition of the government has not been fluid,
02:04and this has reawakened partisan appetites, which can be linked to the future presidential election.
02:11Thank you very much.
02:41Mark, let me start with you.
02:44A couple of weeks ago, I saw you in the office.
02:46I asked you, how long was Le Corneau going to last?
02:49And here he is, stepping out before being pushed out.
02:52Yes, what we've witnessed in the last 24 hours is never heard before.
02:57I mean, clearly, I can't remember anything similar.
03:01First of all, after three difficult weeks of negotiations, we finally get the names of the key ministers.
03:10Yesterday night, not even an hour and a half after that, the head of the Conservative Party,
03:17Les Républicains, Bruno Retailleau, who was reappointed as interior minister,
03:21and who had spent an hour and a half in the office of the prime minister,
03:26says, this is not acceptable.
03:28This is something we cannot agree on, the name of the ministers.
03:33He was one of the ministers who remained in power.
03:36And then there was a crisis after that.
03:38And this morning, the minister went to the presidential palace, handed his resignation.
03:45Emmanuel Macron said, yes, I accept your resignation.
03:49And so the government lasted like 14 hours, 800 and so minutes,
03:56obviously the shortest government and also the shortest tenure of a prime minister.
04:01And now we find ourselves in a major political crisis.
04:05Some are describing it as a regime crisis.
04:08Clearly, the president now has to decide either to reappoint a prime minister,
04:16either from his own camp or maybe from the left.
04:19The left has been demanding this.
04:21He's been reluctant to do that up until now.
04:23Yes, but he may be in a situation where he doesn't have much of a choice.
04:29He's under tremendous pressure.
04:31He could appoint a new prime minister, try it again.
04:35He could call for a snap election because he can do so again.
04:40He did so last year.
04:41There was a one-year period where he couldn't do so.
04:43But since last July, he can again do so.
04:47This is what nearly everyone is asking him to do.
04:51Or as you hinted in your headlines, some are calling, especially on the far left, for him to resign.
04:58They're saying you're responsible for this mess.
05:00So you might as well decide to go home and stop being president.
05:04He has repeatedly said, there's no way on earth that I will accept such a measure.
05:10But he hasn't really spoken.
05:12We heard him about Palestine.
05:14We heard him about Ukraine.
05:15Not a word about the current situation.
05:18So the obvious thing to do would be to address the French people very soon.
05:24I don't know if it will be tonight, tomorrow, but certainly this week, because he's the only one who can take that decision.
05:31Eleanor, let me bring you in.
05:33Your reaction to Sébastien Lecornu's resignation hours after naming that government, which was essentially old wine in not even a new bottle?
05:43No, I was, as most French people, extremely surprised and disappointed by the situation.
05:52And I understand this decision.
05:54And especially after he explained why he did so, he said, well, I don't have enough support, so I cannot handle this situation right now.
06:03Now, I believe we have to find a way.
06:07And finding a way is not trying to avoid the problem.
06:10We're trying to avoid the situation that we have, which is the result, the direct result of the massive vote of French people.
06:17Because only a year ago, we asked French people to recompose the National Assembly.
06:22And now we have 11 political groups.
06:25Do I like the situation?
06:26Clearly not.
06:27Do I think it's easy?
06:28Not at all.
06:29But do I think it's going to be any different if we call for elections today?
06:33I'm afraid it won't be radically different.
06:35And there might be some, you know, differences, some groups that will win some seats, others that will probably lose other seats.
06:42But I think ultimately what we're seeing is that we have a divided country with a divided representation.
06:48And it is our duty as MP to actually find a way.
06:51And I do believe that there is still a way.
06:54I know today not many people are saying this.
06:56You see a way.
06:57We have to see a way.
06:59We cannot be the most irresponsible country and parliament incapable of finding a way.
07:05Now, what has happened until now, if you allow me, is that everyone was shocked by the result of the 2024 elections.
07:12Remember that in 2022, there was no clear majority for the president.
07:16And remember that, for instance, the right decided to vote against the pension reform, which is something that was more to the right.
07:24So it was really unclear where they were standing.
07:26Anyways, let's not go back that much into history.
07:28But the situation is we've had to work with that.
07:32And there's been some progress, or at least a path since 2024, since the snap elections that took place last year.
07:39I think right now what we're seeing is that we have political parties, les Républicains, the socialists, that prefer to stay in an opposition because they're saying, well, it's better for us.
07:49It's better for the presidential election.
07:50I mean, the socialists do want to, they want to lead.
07:52They want to help lead this country.
07:53They want to be alone in leadership, which it's just not feasible if you don't have a majority.
07:59Of course, they want in, but they want in alone.
08:01You have to be in with other people, accepting that not only your program will be applied, but something that will result from compromise.
08:08And I do believe we're capable of doing so.
08:10I will prick your brain in just a couple of seconds, but I want to go across to our correspondents.
08:14But before I do, let's listen to France's interior minister, Bruno Rotaillou, from the right-wing conservative Republican Party.
08:22And he's calling on President Emmanuel Macron to speak soon to the French public, even suggesting snap polls if the political deadlock continues.
08:30Here's why he says the conservatives couldn't get behind the government, which was announced last night.
08:34Take a listen.
08:34Yesterday, I met with the prime minister for an hour and a half, just moments before the government line-up was announced.
08:42He never told me that Bruno Le Maire would be nominated.
08:45He hid it.
08:45That's a trust issue.
08:49We were promised a break with a pass, and we end up with more of the same.
08:52And that includes Le Maire.
08:53I don't know how responsible he is for the trillions of euros of debt, but regardless, he's associated with it.
08:58He symbolizes it.
08:59It shows a disconnect.
09:02They promise change, but nothing at all changes.
09:04And on the other hand, there's no one at all.
09:07Antonia Kerrigan is standing by at the headquarters of the Conservative Republican Party, and we can go across to her now.
09:13Antonia, why was the right-wing Republican Party refusing to get behind Le Corneau?
09:21The police state.
09:22He just said in that piece we heard, he called it a breach of trust, that Bruno Le Maire was appointed as minister for the army
09:31and that he wasn't informed in advance.
09:34He feels that that appointment reflects not the promised break from Sébastien Le Corneau's predecessors and their governments,
09:43but very much someone that reflects the very heart of the Macron project from the beginning of his presidency.
09:49And in many ways, in his words, it's not clear whether he is solely responsible for the state of France's public finances currently,
10:00but certainly, symbolically, he was economy minister for seven years.
10:05So it doesn't seem like an appropriate choice in the eyes of Bruno Le Taillot.
10:10Also, it seems that he felt his party had been marginalised in the nominations.
10:15They were pushing for a third of the ministerial positions, and they were given three of the 18.
10:21He said in the end that wasn't why.
10:23It was a matter of trust.
10:24He also said that he felt that he had a similar disillusionment from what the French public felt when they were promised change and got more of the same.
10:36Now, of course, slightly ironic coming from someone who I think seemingly was very happy to maintain his existing position.
10:44But, of course, 11 of the ministers named last night were people who were continuing in their existing positions.
10:51So, of course, the Republicans, after that announcement, announced they were going to have this meeting this morning
10:58to decide whether or not they would continue to support the government.
11:02That meeting then ended up being about something else instead, when the prime minister unexpectedly handed in his resignation.
11:08Antonio Kerrigan, thank you very much for that, Antonio, reporting there.
11:12Now, the far left's France unbowed party are calling for President Emmanuel Macron to go.
11:17Jean-Luc Mélenchon blaming Macron himself for the chaos in the country.
11:20Take a listen.
11:21To respond to this moment, we must tackle the heart of the problem head-on,
11:31namely the president and his legitimacy to make decisions in these circumstances.
11:39He is the source of the chaos.
11:42We must challenge the legitimacy of the president within the institutional framework of our parliamentary democracy.
11:53There is one way to do that, the removal of the president from office as provided for in the Constitution.
12:02We can now go across to Claire Bacalain, standing by at the Socialist Party headquarters.
12:09Claire, one of the suggestions floated from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far left's Jean-Luc Mélenchon,
12:16was for left parties to band together like they did last year when we had those snap elections.
12:23Is that likely to happen, with the Greens already saying, not really?
12:30Well, I can tell you I'm outside the Socialist Party headquarters here in central Paris.
12:35And the heavyweights of the party, including Olivier Faure, the man who runs the party,
12:39are meeting in the building behind me as I speak to you.
12:43So we're waiting to find out which direction they will take.
12:46And of course, whether they will answer the call of Jean-Luc Mélenchon,
12:49so the far left politician who runs the France Unbowed Party, La France Insoumise.
12:54He called for the left to meet today and to reunite at a meeting.
13:00But we did hear earlier on from Arthur Delaporte, a spokesperson for the Socialist Party,
13:04saying that it was not up to Jean-Luc Mélenchon to summon forces from the left.
13:11And we haven't yet heard confirmation as to whether the Socialist Party
13:14will attend any kind of possible meeting later on today with Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
13:18But it's looking less and less likely as I speak to you.
13:21Thank you very much for that. Claire-Claire Pacalin reporting there.
13:24I'd like to bring in France 24's Marc Perlman, who's on set,
13:28as well as Eleanor Cariot, MP4 Renaissance, which is the party of the French President Emmanuel Macron.
13:34Let me talk about what options President Emmanuel Macron has,
13:38because now he can go ahead and name somebody else as prime minister and try his luck at that,
13:45or dissolve the National Assembly, like he's been called to by elements like the far right,
13:52and now even the Conservative Party. What is he likely to do?
13:55I honestly don't know.
13:57And I believe that the best option would be to name another prime minister
14:02and to have a clear and transparent way of appointing the ministers.
14:06I believe what he did when he appointed Sébastien Lecornu with this mission of finding a coalition,
14:12creating a pact, was something that was clear, and I think it was a very positive move.
14:19Clearly, the oppositions refused to be on board.
14:23I think now everyone can perceive how tense and difficult the situation is.
14:29And clearly, if you told me, look, it is absolutely crystal clear
14:32that new elections would lead to a different result, I would say, OK, why not?
14:36But I don't see how, without changing the voting system,
14:40without changing the major forces in our country,
14:42you would have, ultimately, a result that would be fundamentally different from what we have today.
14:48You would have other balances, but you would still have no clear majority.
14:52And I think we need to find a way to solve this at the Parliament.
14:56But to be fair, in the aftermath of the last election,
14:58we saw that left-wing alliance that came out on top, one could argue.
15:02But Emmanuel Macron chose to look the other way and effectively embolden the far right.
15:07Don't you think that he has done that?
15:09No, I believe, yes, they came first, the left-wing.
15:13Noobs.
15:13The noobs. No, it was called NFP.
15:15It's hard to follow because they change every day.
15:18They're friends during the elections, and then they're the worst enemies,
15:21and then they go back to being friends.
15:23But whatever. Yes, they did come first.
15:26But they were really far from a majority.
15:29The 8th of July, I remember, was my birthday.
15:31Jean-Luc Mélenchon took the scene and the microphone and said,
15:34well, now it has to be the left, only the left, and nothing but the left.
15:38It doesn't work that way.
15:39I hope that today, MPs from the Socialist Party, from other parties at the left,
15:45would understand that, of course, they need to be in, they need to take part,
15:48but they cannot do it alone.
15:49And this is clearly what they refuse to do once more with Sébastien Lecornu.
15:54Yes, maybe they need the prime minister.
15:56Maybe that will make things easier for them symbolically.
15:59But ultimately, the result of that, the government that would result,
16:03needs to be representative of all forces.
16:05So let's do hope that they want to work with us and with everyone else for that matter.
16:09Marc, from what the outgoing prime minister said,
16:11it seems that everyone across the political spectrum here in France
16:15is eyeing the presidency in 2027.
16:18They make no secret of this.
16:20So where does this leave the actual president?
16:23In a bad spot.
16:24Clearly, I mean, he's extremely weakened.
16:27And the fact that already very weakened party, like the Socialist Party,
16:32they have 66 MPs.
16:35The Conservative Party, they have 47 MPs out of 577.
16:39And the fact that they are essentially posturing and refusing to enter any pact
16:47shows not that they're strong,
16:50but it shows that Macron's bloc is not a bloc anymore.
16:55It's not powerful and it's falling apart.
16:57Because what you also saw yesterday,
17:01some small parties that were part of the so-called common group of Macron
17:07are saying, no, no, no, no, we don't want to be part of it.
17:10We don't like that government.
17:12You had two former prime ministers,
17:15Edouard Philippe, Gabriel Attal,
17:16they were asked to come into the government.
17:18They said, no, no, no, no, no.
17:19Why do they do this?
17:20Because they probably think of the next presidential election.
17:23And they're saying, this is the Titanic.
17:26They're sinking.
17:27Why should we come on board a sinking ship?
17:30So what we're witnessing is that Emmanuel Macron's political support is shrinking
17:37and the other parties are smelling blood.
17:40And so they think they can corner him.
17:42Not only Jean-Luc Mélenchon, not only Marine Le Pen.
17:46We know that they're willing to see him go.
17:50Jean-Luc Mélenchon openly calling for his resignation.
17:53Marine Le Pen wanting snap elections.
17:56But even the socialists and the Republicans, as they're known,
18:02are flexing their muscles because they believe now Macron's era is finished.
18:09And so that's why they're putting pressure.
18:11And it's true that the president could, yes, appoint a new prime minister,
18:16hoping for the best after trying three times and failing.
18:19Or he could decide, well, let's go back to the polls.
18:23Let's see what happens.
18:24And it's not certain that the National Assembly would be the same one as it is.
18:29The national rally could gain more votes.
18:32And we'll know in the next few days.
18:33But that is a risk, isn't it?
18:34But it's unlikely that they would have an absolute majority.
18:36And they've said repeatedly because...
18:38Let's wait for the polls.
18:39Well, we've seen several polls in the past days
18:42because everyone has been testing the results.
18:44And there's no poll...
18:45But the situation is new as of today.
18:46But I haven't seen any poll that shows that they would have an absolute majority.
18:50And they're saying...
18:51But their share would increase.
18:52This is the problem, isn't it?
18:53Of course it increases because, obviously, everyone is worried.
18:56I am worried.
18:57And I don't like the situation.
18:59Everyone is seeing what is happening.
19:00And they are actually taking the vote of people that are voting out of fear,
19:05that are voting out of preoccupation.
19:07And the more the situation gets tense, the higher they are in the polls.
19:10But what we've seen also in every single election in the past 20 years is that ultimately you have a majority of French people that do not want to see them in power, not because they want to reject them, but because they fundamentally disagree with everything they stand for and everything they represent.
19:27So maybe that would be different this time.
19:30I sincerely hope it is not the case.
19:32But what I'm saying is, when you have a difficult situation, saying, okay, let's go back to the French people that have voted massively, no fraud, they were all there and chose this national assembly, saying we're not capable of dealing with that, to me is not the right answer.
19:48Really, it isn't.
19:49And today I see different words coming out of socialist leaders.
19:56He resigned with dignity and honor.
19:57That is probably not something he would have said yesterday.
20:00They're actually maybe changing a bit the speeches, maybe thinking a bit more.
20:04Because they probably want an appointment.
20:06But will they get it?
20:07I don't think so.
20:07An appointment from what?
20:08Do you know what?
20:08Actually, at this stage, there needs to be a solution.
20:11And there's no solution in which one party...
20:13But this is a problem.
20:15Then what happens?
20:15We name another prime minister in a couple of weeks.
20:17Maybe later we're back to square one, essentially.
20:20Because at the heart of the problem is the €44 billion of savings which we need for the upcoming budget, right?
20:26So whoever comes is going to have to find some savings or not or have a different approach.
20:32And this is the crux of the problem.
20:34It is.
20:34And perhaps I'm naive.
20:36I don't think I am.
20:37But when you're elected in a function, a national function as MP, you're supposed to be there to think of your constituents and to think of France and to take responsibility.
20:48We've seen a lot of political cuisine these days.
20:51And granted, it's OK.
20:52That happens.
20:53But when you have a situation like the one we have today with Russia acting as it is, acting in several European countries, you know, I'm thinking of the drones that are seen in European countries.
21:04I'm talking about the international situation that you cover every day.
21:08I believe you have to go back to the basics.
21:10And the basics is finding a budget for France and agreeing that you disagree with some of the groups at the National Assembly, but that ultimately you have to find a path.
21:18And not forever.
21:20For only 18 months until we go back to presidential elections.
21:23If MPs are not capable of doing that, they honestly do not deserve their seats.
21:27You're talking about the international situation, and I understand what you're saying, but you're also telling the French public that we need to find this 44 billion euros in savings, at the same time increase our defense spending, but cuts are going to come.
21:39So it's not a palatable choice, and which is why we're seeing this eruption, what we saw over the past 24 hours.
21:48Of course, it's not an easy situation.
21:50And of course, it's easier to be in the opposition and criticize every single move.
21:54But Sébastien Lecornu only stayed one month in office, but during that month, he consulted everyone, and he listened to every single proposal.
22:03And there is a budget that is being worked out by the administrations.
22:06It might not be perfect.
22:07It is our role as MPs to make it better, but to say we're just going to throw everything out there.
22:14And, you know, elections means time, money.
22:17It also means campaigning, campaigning over a program, building a program.
22:21And ultimately, maybe I'm wrong, but I do not believe that there would be an alternative majority.
22:26So we need to be grown-ups today.
22:28I'm ready to be that, and many others are and have shown that they are.
22:33We can't just think that this is just going to solve itself through votes.
22:38We were in a scenario last year where the president should have compromised.
22:42Emmanuel Macron has done everything to not compromise with whoever he's with.
22:47He's appointed people who think like him ideologically and lurched further and further to the right.
22:54Will he, now that his back is against the wall, be forced to maybe look towards the left?
22:59I disagree with the statement that he hasn't compromised, but I also see your point, of course.
23:04And I am one of those that said since day one, you know what, let's appoint an MP from the left and have him compose a government that goes from the right to the centre-left, centre-right to centre-left.
23:17The problem is the left party has decided not to be part of this unless they have the full power, unless they have the full government.
23:25Because everyone's thinking of the presidential elections in the next year.
23:28But see, ultimately, this is not what we should be thinking of.
23:31It's Game of Thrones.
23:31Well, it hasn't, it doesn't need to be.
23:34And it doesn't need to be something that is ineluctable.
23:38So, again, and being here and capable of expressing my voice, I call on other MPs, MPs that are moderate, MPs that are independent.
23:47There are several at the National Assembly.
23:48To actually show that we can work together, we do that every day.
23:51We have bills that we pass that are co-signed by MPs from different groups.
23:55We have amendments that we pass that are co-signed by MPs from different groups.
23:59We should be able to pass a budget.
24:01Our country needs that.
24:02Investors need that.
24:04People need that.
24:05Workers need that.
24:06So, we can't just be stuck in a political game.
24:09Elena Cario, I know you have to leave us, but thank you so much for joining us on the programme.
24:14Stay with us, Mark.
24:15I'm going to go across to Claire Bacallan, standing by at the Socialist Party headquarters.
24:20Claire, we had the Socialist Party leader who came out and spoke after the Prime Minister's resignation this morning.
24:27What did Olivier Faul have to say?
24:33Well, he tweeted that he was wondering, Olivier Faul, the head of the Socialist Party, tweeted saying he was wondering if there were any Gaulists left in France.
24:41There is one.
24:42He's just resigned with dignity and honour.
24:45So, giving a compliment to Sébastien Le Corneau in that respect.
24:50In the building just behind me, in the Socialist Party headquarters, a meeting is taking place with those top brass, the heavyweights of the Socialist Party,
24:56including, of course, Olivier Faul.
24:59And we are waiting to see what the reaction will be, which direction will Olivier Faul take the party in.
25:06The Socialist Party matters.
25:07It matters because a month ago, when the President Emmanuel Macron was considering who to name as his next Prime Minister,
25:15there were signs coming from the presidential palace that Emmanuel Macron might name someone from the ranks of the Socialist Party.
25:22And Olivier Faul said that he would be ready to be the next Prime Minister of France.
25:27So, in the end, it didn't happen.
25:28Emmanuel Macron named Sébastien Le Corneau, so a centre-right politician, a politician who's been with him since 2017,
25:35when Emmanuel Macron was first elected president.
25:37And that, of course, did not go down well at all with the Socialist Party.
25:42They had hoped that someone from their ranks would be the next Prime Minister, and it didn't work out.
25:46So, the question is, if Emmanuel Macron were to reach out to them again this time round,
25:52would they answer favourably or not?
25:54And that's one of the questions that, of course, they will be discussing in the building just behind me,
25:58in the Socialist Party headquarters, as the heavyweights of that party meet.
26:02This meeting was supposed to happen tonight.
26:04It was scheduled for tonight.
26:05But given the context we're in, Delano, at the moment,
26:07this political situation here in France, with everything moving very, very quickly,
26:10tonight's meeting was actually brought forward to now, to this afternoon.
26:13Yeah, we're really in uncharted territory.
26:16Claire, since dissolving Parliament last year, Emmanuel Macron has only named Conservative Prime Ministers
26:22or those aligned with him politically.
26:25He's essentially actively ignored the left.
26:28How does the traditional left view being sidelined?
26:33It's very frustrating for them, right from the beginning.
26:37What's important to go back a few steps is to look at what happened
26:40after Emmanuel Macron dissolved the French Parliament last year.
26:45So what very quickly happened was this new popular front.
26:48So this left-wing alliance stretching all the way from the far left,
26:51from the France unbound, from the La France insoumise party,
26:54the ecologists, the Greens, the Communists and the Socialist Party bounded together.
26:59They wrote a manifesto together.
27:01And they ended up getting more seats in terms of a group,
27:04in terms of some alliance in the National Assembly.
27:06They got more seats than anyone else in those parliamentary elections.
27:09But it was the far-right party, the National Rally, which, as a party, got the most seats.
27:16So the left-wing alliance got the most seats as a grouping,
27:18but the actual party, which got the most seats, was the National Rally.
27:21So you can see just how split France's Parliament is.
27:25Split between this left-wing alliance, split between the far-right,
27:28and then this centre, which has just dissolved as we speak before.
27:33It's Besson Le Corneau.
27:34He tried to bring that centre together, and it didn't work out.
27:36Now, Emmanuel Macron has not chosen anyone from the ranks of this left-wing alliance,
27:42in part because it has crumbled in the last year.
27:45They came together, the left came together quickly, hastily,
27:48before those snap parliamentary elections last year.
27:51But it has since crumbled.
27:53It's not shown itself to be a very united political force.
27:57Now, today we have Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left politician,
28:00calling on the left to reunite.
28:02But we've heard from Artur Delaporte, the spokesperson for the Socialist Party,
28:05saying this morning, that it's not up to Jean-Luc Mélenchon
28:08to summon the forces of the left together.
28:11So it's a complex situation, and of course, we are waiting to hear more.
28:16I'll be bringing you the latest updates from here,
28:18outside the Socialist Party headquarters, as we get them.
28:20We are expecting to get some reactions this afternoon,
28:24when the meeting that's going on in the building just behind me comes to an end.
28:27Claire, thank you very much for that.
28:29Claire Bacallin reporting there for us.
28:31Now, far-right leader Marine Le Pen is unsurprisingly calling on French President Emmanuel Macron
28:36to call snap elections.
28:37Take a listen to what she had to say after the Prime Minister announced he was stepping down.
28:41I call the French President to dissolve the National Assembly,
28:50because there are no solutions, and there will not be any tomorrow.
28:54So the only feasible solution is going back to the polls
28:58so that the French people can give direction to the country.
29:00We can now bring in our French politics editor, Marc Perlman, in once again.
29:09Marc, you heard there from Marine Le Pen.
29:12She's calling for snap elections, even though she's ineligible to run,
29:17given that court suspension over being found guilty of misusing EU public funds.
29:23She wants snap elections because she's confident her far-right party
29:28will do even better than they did last year, potentially even have a majority.
29:33Could they have a majority?
29:34She's probably right to be confident that they would fare better than last time
29:39for a couple of reasons.
29:42Obviously, the repeated failure of Emmanuel Macron to have a prime minister,
29:48a government, pass a budget.
29:51I mean, you know, it's a game of musical chairs,
29:53and it's accelerating as we speak.
29:55I think, obviously, the crux was between yesterday night and this morning
30:00with Sébastien Le Corny.
30:02But obviously, this fuels her speech of, you know, the system is rotten.
30:09They are all trying to preserve it.
30:12We are the only outsiders that have never been tried in power.
30:16So, please, try us.
30:19So, obviously, the polls are showing that the French are fed up with the situation,
30:24and that can only help her.
30:27And also, there's a thing that happened during the last snap elections last year.
30:33The national rally came out on top in the first round.
30:36However, in between the first and the second round,
30:39there was the formation of a so-called Republican front,
30:43whereby the leftist coalition and the centrist coalition of Emmanuel Macron
30:49decided to ally themselves to prevent the national rally from gaining seats.
30:56And this Republican front was one of the main reasons why you have those three main groups
31:03in Parliament, because if it hadn't formed between both rounds,
31:07it's possible that the national rally would have gotten more seats than it actually got.
31:12It's a certainty.
31:13This time around, the polls are showing that if there was to be a new election,
31:19this Republican front is not a given that many French oppose it
31:25because they see it as a denial of democracy,
31:27exactly what the national rally has been clamoring since last year.
31:32So, if you add the fact that clearly the repeated failure of the government
31:40and the fact that this Republican front is not likely to be inexistent
31:47or as solid as it was last time,
31:49the odds are that the national rally would clearly be on top
31:54if there was to be a snap parliamentary election.
31:57Does that give them the absolute majority?
32:00It's not likely, but just keep in mind that obviously no polls have been taken
32:06since the resignation this morning,
32:08so it will be very, very interesting,
32:10because there are obviously going to be polls taken,
32:13what happens if there was to be a snap election.
32:17And I wouldn't be so sure that the majority for the national rally is out of question.
32:24Yes, many people oppose the national rally, but less and less so.
32:28And we've also seen the policies of the conservative,
32:30the traditional right lurch further to the far right.
32:33So, we will see...
32:34Yes, and just look at what's happening in Italy, in the United Kingdom, in the U.S.,
32:38even in Germany, clearly the atmospherics are shifting to the right, even the far right.
32:44Thank you very much for that, Marc-Marc Perlman there.
32:47Now, if you're just joining us, a reminder of our top story,
32:50a political earthquake taking shape here in France
32:53after Prime Minister Sébastien Le Corneau announced he's out.
32:57His resignation comes just hours after he unveiled a new government.
33:00Le Corneau was in the Prime Minister's post for under a month,
33:03and he becomes the fifth person in the job in two years.
33:06His resignation, renewing the focus on France's president,
33:09Emmanuel Macron under pressure to dissolve the National Assembly like he did last year,
33:13or quit himself.
33:14Here's Le Corneau speaking and announcing why he had no choice but to go.
33:22On Monday morning, the conditions were no longer in place for me to perform my duties as Prime Minister
33:28and enable the government to appear before the National Assembly tomorrow.
33:33There were three reasons for this.
33:36The first was that these political parties pretended not to see the change,
33:40the profound break represented by the decision not to invoke Article 49 of the Constitution.
33:47In other words, there was essentially no longer any pretext for prior censorship.
33:52The second reason is that the political parties continue to act
33:57as if they had an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
34:01Basically, I found myself in a situation where I was ready to compromise,
34:06but each political party wants the other political party to adopt its entire program.
34:12And the third thing is that the composition of the government has not been fluid,
34:17and this has reawakened partisan appetites which can be linked to the future presidential election.
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