Macron hosts UK's Starmer a France's political deadlock goes on

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Well also here in Paris today the French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed

00:05the British leader Keir Starmer at the Elysee Palace. Now the pair were slated

00:10to discuss Ukraine and the Middle East as well as the relationship between the

00:14EU and the UK four years after the United Kingdom officially left the

00:19bloc. Well that meeting comes as Macron is grappling with political problems far

00:24closer to home as well. After the elections here in early July France is

00:29still without a Prime Minister. Clovis Casali is our political reporter who's

00:33been looking into this sort of stalemate in French politics Clovis and before

00:39he met Starmer this morning Macron sat down with regional leaders from across

00:43France. He's trying to break the deadlock, trying to find a name for Prime

00:47Minister that could be workable for all kinds of different people. How's he

00:51getting on? Well before I answer that let me just tell you about that meeting

00:55Starmer-Macron because it goes back to the very interesting interview we just

00:59heard. Keir Starmer was telling Emmanuel Macron in that courtyard of the Elysee Palace

01:04when he walked in what a great opening ceremony it was for the Paralympics and

01:08how impressed he had been by that night. Yesterday of course Keir Starmer in the

01:13stands with President Macron invited by the French President. Let's try to make

01:17this as interesting now what I'm gonna be telling you about. We're interested in

01:20politics too Clovis. Yes but these talks aren't producing very good results, no

01:25clear-cut results. Regional figures are meeting with the French President this

01:29morning, Carole Delga, a socialist from the Occitanie region, that's the Pyrenees.

01:34There was also Renaud Muselier from the Provence and David Lysnow is the

01:38President of the Association of Mayors. Why is Emmanuel Macron meeting these

01:42people? Because he's trying to consult and meet with as many politicians or

01:48figures as possible to try to come up with a name, try to see who would get

01:53some kind of backing at the National Assembly in order for him of course to

01:57appoint a new Prime Minister. It might also be a way for the French President

02:01to show less of a Paris-centric approach if you will, say that he's listening to

02:07what people in the regions are saying and also try to find some kind of

02:12solution. At the end of the meeting Carole Delga, who's this socialist

02:17politician, quite powerful in the party even though she's an opponent of the

02:21party leader Olivier Faure. Carole Delga came to see us journalists outside the

02:26Elysee Palace and gave us an idea of who she thinks should be the next Prime

02:30Minister. Take a listen to Carole Delga.

02:34Bernard Cazeneuve is a statesman, a man of the left. He's capable of implementing

02:40left-wing policies and bringing people together. But we have to be clear that

02:44there won't be the NFP's program, at least not all our policies. We don't have

02:49an absolute majority and at some point we have to stop peddling the French

02:53people a fantasy. Well the name that she gave there was Bernard Cazeneuve. Tell

02:59us a bit about him Clovis. And she repeated Cazeneuve, that name, to us

03:02outside the Elysee Palace as she did that morning also, this morning on that

03:07set of TF1. Who is Bernard Cazeneuve? Former Prime Minister, former Interior

03:11Minister during the Paris attacks of 2015 against the Bataclan music venue.

03:17And that gives him some kind of authority. He's respected by the centre,

03:21the right, even in some ways by the far-right. Bernard Cazeneuve also left

03:27the Socialist Party when the Socialists made that alliance with the radical

03:31left of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. So it means he does have quite a lot of respect on

03:36the political spectrum, but not necessarily the backing of all of the

03:39left wing. But he's still one name that keeps coming up and it could be a

03:43possible option for President Emmanuel Macron. So you think the most likely

03:47then is that we will see a candidate from the left emerging? I'm no wizard, I

03:52don't really know. I think what everybody thinks is that the left wing came

03:58first in the past snap elections. They finished ahead, they did not get an

04:01outright majority. That's why they can't impose their candidate to

04:05President Macron. But yes, they finished first and therefore it would be

04:09logical. Yesterday, former President François Hollande was saying it's a

04:13constitutional fault, political mistake not to name a left-wing figure. If

04:19Emmanuel Macron doesn't have a choice ultimately, if no name gets some kind of

04:24backing from a majority of MPs, I think he's going to have to pick someone from

04:27the left wing. And it would also be a way to respect the vote of the French

04:32people who did put the left wing ahead. You remember there was the Republican

04:36Front. These candidates getting together, backing one another to

04:41prevent the far-right from coming into power. A lot of left-wing candidates

04:45enabled centrist candidates of Emmanuel Macron to win. There's a lot of

04:49bargaining there, a lot of negotiations. We should know in the next few days,

04:52hopefully before Sunday.

Category

Transcript

Recommended