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Macron to convene French party leaders in bid to break government deadlock

French President Emmanuel Macron will next week convene party leaders for a series of consultations, the Elysée said on Friday, in a bid to break political deadlock and form a government following snap elections.

Published: 16 August 2024 13:33 CEST

Macron to convene French party leaders in bid to break government deadlock

France is still being run by a caretaker government as the parliamentary deadlock continues. Photo by MARTIN BUREAU / AFP

Weeks after legislative elections which produced a lower-house Assemblée nationale with no clear majority, France still does not have a new prime minister.

Macron said in July he would seek to name a new prime minister after the Paris Olympics, which ended on August 11th, stressing that parties in a fractured parliament must come together to build a broad coalition first.

While the successful Olympic Games have lifted what was a morose mood in France, analysts say that it is far from certain this could boost Macron’s embattled fortunes.

On Friday, the Elysée presidential office said Macron invited party leaders to take part in “a series of discussions” on August 23rd, with a view to attempting to form a government.

“The appointment of a prime minister will follow on from these consultations and their conclusions,” the presidency said in a statement.

Noting that the French people had expressed “a desire for change and broad unity”, the Elysée hopes that the consultations will help move towards “the broadest and most stable majority possible.”

In late July, Macron dismissed a left-wing alliance’s push to name a new prime minister.

The left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire, which emerged as the largest faction post-election, has said it wants the economist Lucie Castets, 37, to be the new premier.

The government of Macron allies, under Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, has carried on in a caretaker capacity throughout the Games.

In June, Macron shocked the nation by dissolving parliament and calling snap elections. Seats in the 577-strong assembly are now divided between three similarly-sized blocs.

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The word ‘destitution‘ – a ‘false-friend’ that means impeachment, not poverty – has been making headlines in the French press recently, after members of the far-left La France Insoumise party began threatening the impeachment of President Emmanuel Macron.

In this case it’s pretty unlikely to be successful ( more on that below) but there is a constitutional provision in France for the president to be impeached.

How does impeachment work?

This is a relatively new invention in France, as it was first added to the constitution in 2007, in the form of article 68 – and has, so far, never happened.

Who can be impeached – the process is specific to the president and impeachment can be triggered “in the event of failure [of the head of state] to fulfil his duties manifestly incompatible with the exercise of his mandate”.

For example, this may be a refusal to sign laws that have been passed by parliament, according to French media Ça m’interesse.

According to the French government site Vie Publique, the breach of duty may be political, but it may also be the private behaviour of the president, if his/her actions “have undermined the dignity of his office.”

Who does the impeaching – this isn’t something that ordinary members of the public can get involved in, only politicians can trigger the process.

The initial proposition must be put forward by at least 10 percent of the Assemblée nationale or the Senate – meaning at least 58 députés (MPs) or 35 senators.

How does it work – if the initial proposition gathers enough support, there are then several stages to the process, as outlined by the law for the implementation of Article 68.

First the parliament must turn itself into a ‘High Court’, and in order to do this there must be a resolution validated by the bureau of the Assemblée, then by the Law Commission.

Eventually, it will go back to the chamber for a vote and it must receive a two-thirds majority.

This same process must happen in the Senate too, which also must pass it with a two-thirds majority.

Once both chambers have validated the procedure, they must vote on the impeachment itself, which is done by secret ballot. In order to be accepted, there must again be a minimum of a two-thirds majority reached in each chamber.

Throughout the process, the president would continue to serve in office.

Has it ever been tried – Prior to 2007, the only official way to get rid of a French President before the end of their term of office would be if they were to stand before the High Court for a crime of ‘high treason’. Through the centuries plenty of French premiers have been deposed, albeit through more ‘unofficial’ methods such as revolutions, counter-revolutions or military coups.

So far, no French president has been impeached during the Fifth Republic (ie since 1958) but in October 2016 the right-wing Les Républicains party attempted it against then-President François Hollande, accusing him of divulging national security secrets to two journalists who were writing a book about him. The vote was easily defeated.

In the event that the president is dismissed, then there would be an early presidential election.

Not to be confused with – Confusingly, there is another term for a procedure separate from impeachment called l’empêchement. This is outlined in Article 7 of the French constitution – which is intended to be used if a president becomes mentally unable to govern.

In this case, a president can be prevented from exercising her or her mandate, but it would be up to the Constitutional Council to determine whether their mental or cognitive faculties are impaired.

Is Macron likely to be impeached?

The reason that ‘destitution‘ is in the news is that the left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon wrote in La Tribune du Dimanche that his La France Insoumise party wanted to threaten the president with impeachment because he has still has not appointed a new prime minister after the country’s snap parliamentary election in early July.

The election saw the left-wing coalition, Nouvelle Front Populaire, which includes LFI, take home the largest portion of seats (193), followed by Macron’s centrist coalition with 164, and then the far-right Rassemblement National with 143. However, no single party or coalition has an absolute majority (289 seats).

The country is currently under the control of a caretaker government, although Macron recently announced plans for a meeting with party leaders on August 23rd, which commentators speculate may involve naming a new PM.

So far, LFI members have only said that they are ‘warning’ Macron of the possibility, and no official calls for impeachment have been tabled in parliament.

It also appears that LFI have failed to convince even their own left-wing allies within the Nouveau Front Populaire, never mind any of the right-wing or centrist MPs and Senators they would need to get on board to approach that crucial two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament.

It therefore appears very unlikely that this measure will succeed and – for now at least – Macron remains un-impeached.

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