France unveils new government amid political deadlock
Paul Taylor, a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Center, said that French politics was increasingly driven by “anger and emotion rather than rationality.”
“If Lecornu fails, I don’t see much alternative to a dissolution,” he told AFP. “What a mess France is stuck in until 2027, and maybe longer.”
Lecornu’s two immediate predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were ousted in a legislative standoff over France’s austerity budget.
France’s debt-to-GDP ratio is now the European Union’s third-highest after Greece and Italy, and is close to twice the 60 percent permitted under EU rules.
France’s public debt has reached a record high, official data showed last week.
France has been mired in deadlock since Macron gambled on snap elections in the middle of last year in the hopes of bolstering his authority.
The move backfired, with voters electing a parliament fractured between three rival blocs.
In appointing Lecornu in early September, Macron plumped for one of his closest allies rather than seeking to broaden the appeal of the government across the political spectrum.
For the past month, the new prime minister has held a series of consultations with centrist allies and opposition leaders on the right and left in a bid to agree on a non-aggression pact in parliament and adopt the budget.
In recent days, he has announced a number of concessions, including a pledge not to ram his austerity budget through parliament without a vote, but opposition leaders said they wanted more.
