In his historic address to the nation following the fall of his government, President Emmanuel Macron sought to avoid responsibility for the political turmoil in Paris, vowing to remain in office until the end of his term despite growing calls for him to resign.
President Macron spoke at the Elysée Palace on Thursday night. declared He said he would “never take responsibility” for the actions of others, adding that the real culprits of the instability facing France were “anti-communist opposition” between the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition and Marine Le Pen's populist National Rally. He said that it was a “Japanese-ism” alliance. (RN) after uniting to condemn Michel Barnier's government over its attempt to pass substantial cuts to social security payments to the elderly without a vote in parliament.
President Macron accused the members of the National Assembly of siding with the “extreme left”, ignoring that he had sided with the far left in parliamentary elections just a few months earlier, saying: “Anarchy is what unites us with the far left. The only project, this one with the rest of the New Popular Front conspirators.”
“The far right and the far left have united in an anti-republican front because the forces that ruled France until yesterday chose to ally. I will never be responsible to others,” Macron said. Ta.
The president also sought to deny responsibility for choosing former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as prime minister after July's parliamentary elections. President Macron claimed he had only chosen Barnier as a compromise candidate to ensure that the next prime minister would not be subject to “censorship in his appointment.” In the end, Barnier served as prime minister for just 91 days, the shortest tenure in modern French history.
After trying to shift the blame away from his own office, the president tries to put the situation facing France (a country that currently has no government and no budget for next year) into perspective by comparing it to Notre Dame Cathedral, which is about to be rebuilt. And so. A reopening ceremony will be held on Saturday, with US President-elect Donald Trump expected to attend.
“This project seemed impossible, but we did it,” he said. “There was a clear direction, a clear will. Everyone had a role to play in the greater cause than we were. This is the same thing we have to do for our country. ” The president also said he aims to pass a budget by the end of the year, but it is unclear how he will be able to pass a budget given the division in Congress.
It is also unclear how Mr. Macron will try to save his political future from the flames surrounding him. Contrary to early indications, he chose not to name a new prime minister on Thursday, perhaps suggesting that he had not found a worthy candidate to take the job. However, the president reiterated his vow to continue serving until the end of his term, saying, “The mandate that you democratically entrusted to me is for five years, and I will exercise it fully until the end of that term.''
Mr Macron has largely disappeared from the front lines of domestic politics in recent months following his disastrous decision to call for a dissolution of parliamentary elections, with his coalition government's vote share dwarfed by the left-wing New Popular Front and Ms Le Pen. It was less than both national assemblies.
As a result of July's elections, the country was effectively split into three parliamentary parties. This was largely the result of Macron's actions, and as it seemed likely that Le Pen's faction was on the brink of victory, the president struck a last-minute desperate electoral alliance with the far-left.
Electoral fraud successfully prevented his long-time rival from taking control of parliament, but the country has been left in an apparently ungovernable position with few options for relief, and Mr Macron is on hold until the middle of next year. The constitution prohibits calling for new parliamentary elections.
On the crucial final day of the second regime's fall that year, Macron was halfway around the world, traveling to Riyadh to meet with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss expanding economic cooperation. The president returned to Paris on Wednesday afternoon, just before the no-confidence vote, but by then the die had been cast and Mr. Barnier collapsed just hours later.
Although the president has vowed to remain in office until the end of his second and final term in 2027, pressure is mounting from both domestically and internationally for him to retire from politics.
According to Odoxa-Backbone Consulting investigation for Le Figaro, Six in 10 French voters (59%) want the president to resign. Despite his attempts to avoid responsibility for the current domestic instability, almost half of voters (46%) believe that Macron is personally responsible, compared to 11% of the National Assembly; This compares to 10% for the New Popular Front.
But calls for his resignation did not only come from within the country, with newspapers across Europe calling for the French head of state to resign. Based in Milan, Italy corriere della sera declared When Barnier's government collapsed, he said that “macroism was dead,'' and “the idea of cutting off its wings and moving toward the center worked in two presidential elections, but it collapsed in the face of social crisis and public unpopularity.'' added. president. “
Meanwhile, reviews were similarly negative in neighboring Germany, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government collapsed just a month ago, leaving a power vacuum in the EU's two largest capitals. Bavaria broadsheet south german zeitung He accused Macron of being a “destroyer of the republic.”
Going further, berlin newspaper “Today, France is in ruins. The only way out of this deep political crisis is for those in charge to leave. Mr. Macron must resign and make way for something new! ”
