Is the quest for a head of government in France close to its conclusion? Emmanuel Macron received on Monday the former socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the regional president Xavier Bertrand (right), but a third profile has emerged, that of Thierry Beaudet.
The aim of these consultations, which are presented as the last, is to find a head of government who will not be immediately censored in the National Assembly, the early legislative elections having led to a lower house without a majority.
In a deeply divided France, the government, which resigned 48 days ago, an unprecedented situation, continues to manage current affairs.
A representative of civil society?
The name of Thierry Beaudet, president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), emerged on Monday as a possible Prime Minister, in a quasi-ungovernable configuration.
The third chamber of the Republic with the Assembly and the Senate, the CESE brings together 175 members representing French civil society.
A trained teacher, aged 62, Thierry Beaudet is a follower of dialogue and consensus, but has no political experience in the field and is little known to the general public.
Hollande and Sarkozy received at the Elysée
Consultations began on Monday with former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. Emmanuel Macron also received his Socialist predecessor François Hollande on Monday, then another former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who advocates for a right-wing Prime Minister.
Xavier Bertrand, aged 59, president of the Republicans of the Hauts-de-France region (north), was then received in the afternoon at the Elysée. At the end of the afternoon, it was the centrist François Bayrou who climbed the steps of the Elysée, followed an hour later by the resigning Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
Emmanuel Macron, who could make an appointment on Tuesday, recently rejected the candidacy of senior civil servant Lucie Castets, presented by the New Popular Front (NFP) parties, a left-wing alliance that came out on top in the legislative elections, arguing that there was a risk of immediate censure in the National Assembly.
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