• Macron is forming a ruling coalition after a snap election but has not named a new prime minister.
• The new prime minister’s first task is to present the next year’s budget plan to the National Assembly.
• The talks will include representatives from across the political spectrum.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to begin a challenging round of consultations with political leaders on Friday as he seeks to form a viable ruling coalition after last month’s inconclusive election. Six weeks after losing his parliamentary majority in a snap election, Macron has yet to name a new prime minister. The new prime minister’s first major task will be to present next year’s budget plan to the National Assembly.

The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP), which emerged as the largest faction after the election, has proposed economist Lucie Castets for the role of premier. However, Macron’s forces have shown little interest in this idea and instead prefer a potential alliance with the traditional right.

Castets, accompanied by other NFP representatives, will be the first political figure to meet with Macron at the Elysee Palace on Friday. Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, stated ahead of the meeting that they have no intention of negotiating with Macron.

“We’ll tell him that there is no alternative to Lucie Castets’s appointment.”

Macron’s allies, who stated after the election that “nobody won,” have argued that the leftist bloc is too weak to claim the prime minister’s post. Instead, they hope to form a majority around a centrist figure. France is now experiencing its longest period without a government leader following a legislative election, as Macron chose not to prioritize finding one during the Paris Olympic Games, which ended on August 11. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has been overseeing a caretaker government in the interim.

Opposition figures have sharply criticized Macron for the delay, with Green Party senator Yannick Jadot accusing the president of “a denial of democracy.” Even some of Macron’s allies have grown impatient. An official from his office insisted Thursday that “the president stands with the French people as the guarantor of the institutions.”

The Elysee talks—scheduled for Friday and Monday—will include representatives from across the political spectrum. Macron’s office has not indicated when the president might choose a new prime minister, but observers expect him to announce his decision sometime next week. The appointee must survive a confidence vote in parliament and present a draft budget for 2025 by the October 1 legal deadline.

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