british media: macron's further delay may lead to "greater danger"
2024-09-03
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reference news reported on september 2on august 30, the financial times published an article titled "macron's delays put a divided france on edge," written by sylvie kaufman. the article is excerpted as follows:
something unusual is happening in france. president macron is silent, the country is without a government, and the french people are not complaining. at least not yet.
in june, macron launched a doomed gamble by calling for early parliamentary elections to "clarify" the results of the european parliament elections that led to a victory for france's far right. however, the results are more ambiguous than ever.
without a majority in parliament, no prime minister can survive a no-confidence vote and new elections are out of the question. macron has remained silent while still searching for a way out of the crisis of his own making.
what makes the situation so complicated is that it has no precedent in the history of the french fifth republic. the current crisis has exposed the fragility of france's constitutional system in a fragmented political landscape.
on july 7, french voters mobilized en masse to reject the far-right national rally’s majority and block its accession to the premiership. that’s the good news. but the bad news is that they also blocked two other groups—centrist and leftist—from governing, since neither now has enough seats in the national assembly to achieve the required majority. french voters made clear what they don’t want, but they didn’t decide what they do want.
in other european countries, parties need to reach compromises to reach a majority. french parties have so far been unable to do so. not only are they unaccustomed to this approach, but some of their leaders are more interested in preserving their chances of participating in the next presidential election in 2027 than in trying to secure a precarious parliamentary majority today.
how long can macron maintain his temporary status as “president, prime minister and leader of his party,” as left-wing prime ministerial candidate lucie castex has claimed? his room for maneuver is not that great. he estimates that the left-wing coalition will eventually break up, freeing the mainstream socialists from macron’s radical rival, mélenchon, but that idea has proven slow to materialize. those socialists who worked for it, such as former president and now mp françois hollande, have not done so to save macron.
according to opinion polls, the french public has been patient so far but is looking forward to a decision. other important matters are also imminent. the budget must be ready by mid-september and presented to parliament on october 1. the caretaker government is preparing the budget and needs strong political support.
in terms of geopolitics, with german chancellor scholz's position at home also precarious and the russia-ukraine conflict still ongoing, europe cannot afford for two major powers to be paralyzed by domestic difficulties. if macron delays any further, it will create opportunities for extremist parties and trigger a real constitutional crisis, which could lead to macron's resignation and devastating instability. (compiled by lu di)
