French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking a fifth prime minister in less than two years to tackle the country’s debt problems and there are no obvious candidates with a decent chance of success.
Francois Bayrou, a centrist with a long history of doing business with rival parties will resign on Tuesday, nine months into the job, after failing to win support for his deficit-cutting plans from a National Assembly fractured into uncompromising factions. Bayrou had replaced Michel Barnier, a veteran of the center-right, who also resigned after losing a no-confidence vote in December.
With no obvious solution to the parliamentary impasse, some parties, including Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, are calling for fresh legislative elections but Macron is said to be reluctant. His allies argue that a another election would do little to address the divisions in French politics and would risk handing more power to the far right.
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