PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron will meet on Monday with former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, a political figure seen as a front-runner to head the French government.
The two men will speak in the morning, according to multiple news reports.
“Bernard Cazeneuve is not asking for it, but if he [becomes prime minister], it’s out of duty and to avoid further difficulties for the country,” his team told Le Monde.
France has been embroiled in a political crisis since Macron called a snap election on June 9, after his camp lost the European election to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.
On July 7, the left-leaning alliance New Popular Front (NFP) garnered the most seats in the National Assembly, followed by Macron’s centrist alliance and the National Rally.
But the NFP doesn’t have an absolute majority in the legislature — an argument used by the French president as an excuse for refusing to appoint their candidate for the PM post, the 37-year-old civil servant Lucie Castets.
In the past few days, the Elysée Palace has been keen to push Cazeneuve’s name, arguing he’s one of the only political figures who wouldn’t immediately be taken down by a motion of no-confidence in the National Assembly.
Macron will also meet with former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande at the Elysée on Monday, according to French media.
Cazeneuve has already served as prime minister under François Hollande. However, in 2022, he left the Socialist Party. He’s a representative of the French left’s most centrist-leaning fringe and has long been at odds with Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s left-wing France Unbowed.
Cazeneuve “cannot be considered a left-leaning prime minister if he does not have the support of the four political components of the left in the National Assembly,” said Manuel Bompard, who is representing France Unbowed in the NFP negotiations.
The next prime minister will take over from Gabriel Attal, who will shift to the National Assembly and lead the pro-Macron group of MPs dubbed Together for the Republic