French elections 2024: Macron asks PM to stay on for now

French President Macron has urged Prime Minister Gabriel Attal not to resign ‘for stability,’ as Marine Le Pen unveils bold EU plan.

Marine Le Pen’s party has teamed up with the camp of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to launch a new far-right camp in the EU parliament, a day after being dealt a surprise defeat in French elections.

Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 28-year-old lieutenant and chief of her National Rally (RN) party, will take the reins of the Patriots for Europe group, French lawmaker Jean-Paul Garraud said at its public launch in Brussels.

With 84 members from 12 countries - the largest contingent being the RN with 30 politicians - the new group overtakes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right bloc to become the third-biggest force in the European Parliament.

“Our long-term goal is to change European Union policymaking,” Kinga Gal, a member of Orban’s Fidesz party named as Bardella’s first vice-president, told reporters.

“Our new group will work to preserve Europe’s Indo-Christian roots, will strive for the strongest protection of Europe’s external borders... and will work for a strong and competitive Europe,” she said.

French Rassemblement National (RN) far-right party's leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party headquarters in Paris on July 8. Picture: AFP

The launch came a day after French voters relegated the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) to third spot in legislative elections, despite surveys and a first-round vote suggesting it was on track to come first.

France’s left-wing New Popular Front came top, but with insufficient numbers to form a legislative majority.

Bardella, who sits in the EU parliament, had vowed the RN would “weigh on the balance of power in Europe”.

The RN has had past financial and ideological ties with Russia, to which Orban remains defiantly friendly.

French far-right party RN member Jean-Paul Garraud (L) talks to the media after a press conference during the first meeting for the new Group Patriots for Europe at the European Parliament in Brussels. Picture: AFP

WHO HAS JOINED PATRIOTS OF EUROPE

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) and the centrist ANO of former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis have signed up.

Five other parties - the Party for Freedom (PVV) of Dutch anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, Portugal’s far-right Chega party, Spain’s Vox, the Danish People’s Party and the Flemish nationalist pro-independence Vlaams Belang - have also joined.

Matteo Salvini, who heads Italy’s League, announced Monday his party too was ready to join, hailing the formation of the Patriots for Europe as “determinant to change the future of this Europe”.

“It’s a patriotic movement that we brought to life, and I think it is going to do a lot of good for Europe,” Harald Vilimsky of Austria’s FPOe said.

MACRON ASKS PM TO ‘STAY ON FOR STABILITY’

It comes as French President Emmanuel Macron asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who offered his resignation, to stay in his post for now.

According to a source in the Elysee Presidential Palace, Macron has asked Attal to stay on “for the moment to ensure the stability of the country.”

Attal offered his resignation to Macron at the Elysee Presidential Palace.

Earlier, the Prime Minister had said he would offer Mr Macron his resignation but was ready to serve “as long as duty demands”, notably in light of the imminent Games.

France has been plunged into political chaos after the left-wing New Popular Front beat the far right and Macron’s coalition in parliamentary elections — but fell short of an absolute majority.

The surprise outcome means France is in political limbo with no clear path to forming a new government, two days before a major NATO summit and three weeks before the Paris Olympics.

France's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal gives a speech following the first results of the second round of France's legislative election. Picture: AFP

Founder of the left-wing party The New Popular Front, Jean-Luc Melenchon, on election night. Picture: AFP

The New Popular Front — formed last month after Macron called snap elections — brought together the previously deeply-divided Socialists, Greens, Communists and the hard-left France Unbowed in one camp.

Projections by major polling agencies showed the New Popular Front is set to be the largest bloc in the new National Assembly with 177 to 198 seats, Macron’s alliance on 152 to 169 seats and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally on 135 to 145 seats.

That would put no group near the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority and it remains unclear how a new government could be formed.

Left wing supporters light red flares as they celebrate during a rally. Picture: AFP

Veteran presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s party had previously led the race after the June 30 first round of voting, with opinion polls predicting that she would lead the biggest party in parliament after the second round.

Her protege Jordan Bardella, the party’s 28-year-old president, denounced Mr Macron for pushing France towards instability and what he called “the extreme left”.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron leave the voting station on July 7, 2024 in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, France. Picture: Getty Images

Le Pen, who wants to launch a fourth bid for the presidency in 2027, declared: “The tide is rising. It did not rise high enough this time, but it continues to rise and, consequently, our victory has only been delayed.”

Firebrand leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon, the controversial figurehead of the New Popular Front coalition, demanded that the left be allowed to form a government.

“Its constituent parts, the united left, have shown themselves equal to the historic occasion and in their own way have foiled the trap set for the country,” he said.

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Jordan Bardella did not perform as well as expected. Picture: AFP

Macron called the snap elections a baffling three years ahead of time after his forces were trounced in June’s European parliament vote, a gamble which at first appeared to have backfired, and sparked unrest as well as widespread condemnation.

While major media and many commentators projected victory for far-right National Rally’s (RN) Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, they failed to win the majority

The BBC reported that while the RN has increased its representation in parliament it is not the landslide that was expected.

French far-right National Rally (RN) party member and candidate for the second round of legislative elections Marie-Caroline Le Pen, places political campaign leaflets in a mailbox. Picture: AFP

France's President Emmanuel Macron called the snap election. Picture: AFP

The loose alliance of French left-wing parties thrown together for the snap elections was on course Sunday night to become the biggest parliamentary bloc and beat the far right, according to the shock projected results.

Gabriel Attal has offered his resignation. Picture: AFP

The left-wing group was predicted to take between 172 and 215 seats, the president’s alliance on 150 to 180 and the National Rally, which had hoped for an absolute majority, in a surprise third place on 115 to 155 seats.

This marks a new high water mark for the far right, but falls well short of a victory that would have been a rebuke for Mr Macron, who called the snap election in what he said was bid to halt France’s slide towards the political extremes.

- With AFP

Originally published as French elections 2024: Macron asks PM to stay on for now