'The clock is ticking': France's Macron accelerates efforts to break PM deadlock

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00:00Now, it's been nearly two months of deadlock in French politics after elections delivered

00:05a divided parliament. Today, President Macron is intensifying efforts to find a new prime

00:11minister, hosting two former presidents, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande for talks.

00:17He's also welcomed the former socialist prime minister, Bernard Kastner, who some people

00:21have tipped as a candidate to fill this vacancy for PM.

00:26Well, our French politics editor, Marc Perelman, is across all the details. He's with me now.

00:32Marc, are we finally getting closer to a deal and to a name?

00:36I think so, but I'm not sure because with Emmanuel Macron, it's always very difficult.

00:42Even when he appointed a prime minister having a majority, it took days and days and days

00:48of waiting because he really has to have his back against the wall to finally pull the

00:53trigger. And given the new political situation with no majority in parliament, it is even

01:00more difficult. But there's clearly, as you said, an intensification. At least, this is

01:06what the Elysée Palace, the presidential palace, wants to convey, the idea that he

01:11is speaking with former president, former prime minister, former ministers, and probably

01:17people we don't hear about because this is the public appointments he has. He also has

01:22phone calls and probably private appointments because he realizes that, yes, there were

01:27the Olympic Games. Yes, there was the summer holiday break. But now the kids are going

01:33back to school and he also has to fill the position of prime minister and then have a

01:38government because the clock is ticking, two months since the election, and the budget

01:43vote, the key vote, is in October, in one month. And so, without a government, it's

01:51impossible here in France to vote a budget. So, clearly, the clock is ticking. Emmanuel

01:57Macron has to find a solution, has to find a compromise. The problem for him, and he's

02:03been begging political parties to form coalitions, is that there's no coalition. The only existing

02:09coalition, the Nouveau Front Populaire on the left, has a very slim majority in parliament

02:17but clearly not enough to be able to have a prime minister, despite their claims that

02:22they should have the choice of the president to become prime minister. Emmanuel Macron

02:28has said, no, we have to form a new coalition. This is why he's trying to come up with a

02:34name. It should be this week.

02:36Well, let's talk about the names then. Bernard Cazeneuve, I mentioned him. He's a name that's

02:41been floated, relatively well known in the sense that he was prime minister a while ago

02:46himself. There are, though, new rumours today of somebody who is really not in the political

02:51spotlight at all.

02:52Right. First of all, Bernard Cazeneuve, he was prime minister for a short while. He was

02:57for a longer time interior minister, especially during the terrorist attacks in France under

03:03the mandate of the socialist president, François Hollande. He's more of a centrist. The problem

03:08he has is that the leftist coalition I just talked about will not support him because

03:13they consider he's a traitor and that if he's dealing with Emmanuel Macron, he's betraying

03:18them. So it might be difficult.

03:20Another name that's being bandied and who met Emmanuel Macron as a former minister from

03:25the right this time, Xavier Bertrand, who heads the northern region of France. He's

03:30also said he's willing to be prime minister, but he also has the same problem. He doesn't

03:35have enough support in parliament. So a name that's come up today is Thierry Baudet, who's

03:41the head of the council which is advising the government and the president. It's called

03:48the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. It's not well known. It gives advices. It

03:56has people from the world of business, trade unions, associations, and they discuss policy

04:03issues but without having really an input in what the government decides or not. So

04:10his name has come up as someone who would not be a member of all the political parties

04:16and could be seen as a compromised candidate. But there's no guarantee, as with the others,

04:22that he would be able to garner a majority because this is the problem. The trick is

04:28that yes, you can appoint a prime minister, but if he doesn't get enough votes in parliament

04:34or if he faces a motion of no confidence immediately, well, you're back to square one with no prime

04:40minister. So Emmanuel Macron has to find a prime minister, has to find a majority

04:45and a solid one, and has to be able to pass a budget next month. So obviously, we're not

04:51out of the woods yet.

04:52Marc Perelman, thank you.

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