The country has been gripped by political deadlock ever since July snap legislative elections left it with a hung parliament.
Michel Barnier, a former minister and EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, was on Thursday on the “home stretch” of his quest to form a new cabinet, advisers said, after two weeks of negotiations.
His office said he was aiming for the “rapid formation” of a government as he held an afternoon meeting with representatives of right-wing and centrist political forces that could be part of the fresh line-up.
But the 73-year-old prime minister has faced a raft of challenges to his task since taking office earlier this month.
Reports have emerged of a tense lunch between him and centrist President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, and a second meeting on Wednesday.
A conservative politician, wishing to remain anonymous, said the president had stressed Barnier could not give two top portfolios — such as the finance and interior posts — to right-wing figures, irritating the prime minister.
Barnier is struggling to get a left-wing name on board, and he has to seek the approval of the far right, which now holds more seats than ever in parliament.
The prime minister had warned on Wednesday that France’s budgetary situation was “very serious”.
France was placed on a formal procedure for violating European Union budgetary rules before Barnier was picked as head of government.
The Bank of France warned this week that a projected return to EU deficit rules by 2027 was “not realistic”.
Macron had hoped to reassert his relative majority in parliament by calling for the elections in late June and early July, but the plan backfired.
A left-wing alliance nabbed the most seats in the lower house National Assembly, but does not have a working majority.
Macron’s centrist faction is now the second largest bloc.
The anti-immigration far right is third but emerged from the election as the single largest party.
Before appointing Barnier, Macron had rejected the left-wing alliance’s proposed candidate for prime minister.
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