The Resigned French Prime Minister Sébastien Le Cornue said tonight that within 48 hours, President Emmanuel Macron will likely nominate his successor to the post, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
According to Le Cornue, the prospect of calling early parliamentary elections is receding. In an interview with France 2 television, he noted that this was in line with his position expressed earlier in the day, when he commented that the likelihood of parliament being dissolved seemed increasingly small after talks with political parties.
“I told the President of the Republic that the prospects of dissolving (parliament) were decreasing and that I believe that the situation allows the President to appoint a prime minister in the next 48 hours“, Lecornu summed up to France 2.
Quoted by DPA, he explained that there was a majority of several political groups, including the left-wing opposition, who were ready to reach an agreement on budget and stability issues, albeit under certain conditions.
Amid calls for early presidential elections, Lecornu said that now “is not the time to change the president“, reported Agence France-Presse.
“Let's not "We are making the French believe that the president of the republic is the one who votes on the budget," he stressed, adding that "this presidential institution must be protected and preserved." The outgoing French prime minister also commented, quoted by Reuters, that the disputed pension reform remained one of the main obstacles in negotiations to form a new government. "We must find a way to hold debates on the pension reform," Le Corneille said. He added that freezing the reform, which envisages raising the retirement age by two years to 64, would cost the treasury about 3 billion euros by 2027.