Macron jokes about French voters

It is unclear how long a government led by France’s left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front (NFP), would last. The alliance holds only a modest majority of seats in the national assembly and faces fierce opposition from both the Macronists and the far right. Would it succumb to an immediate vote of no confidence, or could it begin the delicate process of attempting to govern a deeply divided country?

If France were a healthier democracy, we would already have the answer: as the candidate for prime minister, backed by the coalition that won the most votes in the country’s snap elections, 37-year-old civil servant Lucie Castets would already have been asked by the president to form a new government. Perhaps rivals would quickly topple such a government—or perhaps not. Perhaps the alliance would implode if forced to compromise—or perhaps not. Either way, citizens deserve to find out.

Instead, Emmanuel Macron has refused to even consider the possibility of the NFP coming to power, calling it a threat to the “institutional stability” and calling for “consultations” to continue – a vaguely worded proposal that means little. In the meantime, state power remains in the hands of an outgoing Macron alliance government that has been in power for more days (43 and counting) than any other such transitional government in the history of the Fourth or Fifth RepublicAlarm bells are starts to sound – and for good reason: Macron’s refusal to give the NFP a chance to govern makes a parody of an election in which millions of voters chose to turn the page on his unpopular agenda, and plunges French democracy into uncharted waters.

So far, Macron’s procrastination has benefited from a blind spot in the constitution, a document drafted in 1958 and inspired by Charles de Gaulle’s vision of a powerful head of state. While the French president is charged with appointing a prime minister—and that prime minister is charged with leading a government accountable to parliament—the constitution offers little guidance on what the process of actually appointing a prime minister should look like. In the three previous instances of cohabitation, presidents simply chose prime ministers backed by clear legislative majorities. Critics of the NFP have a point when they point out that the left does not have an absolute majority: in the 66-year history of the Fifth Republic, the National Assembly has never been so divided as it is now.

Yet choosing a prime minister backed by the most powerful coalition is an obvious first step. And that first step is now long overdue: Macron’s call for a “Olympic Truce” was generously followed, but the closing ceremony at the Stade de France ended more than two weeks ago. the constitutionMacron also has a duty to ensure “respect for the constitution” and the “proper functioning” of “public authorities” through his role of “arbitration”. In other words, he cannot do whatever he wants. In a Interview2015Macron lamented France’s struggle to deal with the “absence of the figure of the king” — but the country remains, after all, a republic, with legislatures and elections.

While it has not been said in official statements, Macron’s reluctance to appoint a left-wing prime minister also stems from a concern shared by his ideological allies—and one that is deeply familiar to progressives across Europe: From an economic perspective, it is simply too dangerous to let the left govern. It is hard to imagine that France would be in the situation it is in now if the coalition with the most seats in the national assembly had promised to continue Macron’s economic agenda, vowing to carefully control government spending and rule out tax increases.

A key deadline only adds to Macron’s concerns: this fall, the French government must adopt a new annual budgetand the stakes are higher than usual. After the government missed deficit forecasts last year, S&P downgraded France’s credit rating and the European Union formally placed the country in a “excessive deficit procedure”and push the authorities to better control government borrowing and spending. In the neoliberal spirit, the NFP is not up to the task. Even if the coalition had limited room for manoeuvre in the National Assembly, its platform of calling for tax hikes, a minimum wage increase and the repeal of Macron’s pension reform is seen as risky and unserious.

Financial markets may not be happy with everything the NFP proposes. Major corporate leaders absolutely do not want a left-wing government, and they are louder and louder about it. But of course it doesn’t really matter what they think. That’s not how democracy works.

A deeply unpopular president called for new elections, and the majority of French people voted against his electoral alliance. Now Macron must deal with the consequences. And if compromises must be made, France’s democratic traditions offer the best way forward: let the newly elected national assembly sort them out.