French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday (September 2, 2024) intensified efforts to find a new prime minister after almost two months of deadlock following inconclusive legislative elections, hosting two former presidents and two potential candidates.

France has been without a permanent government since the July 7 polls, in which the left formed the largest faction in a hung parliament with Mr. Macron’s centrists and the far right comprising the other major groups.

Two possible candidates for prime minister – former premier Bernard Cazeneuve from the centre left and right-wing ex-minister Xavier Bertrand – held separate meetings with Mr. Macron.

It is traditional for the French president to consult predecessors during moments of national importance, and Mr. Macron also met Monday at the Elysee presidential palace with the two surviving former presidents – right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Francois Hollande.

An Elysee source, asking not to be named, did not rule out that a third candidate could emerge.

French daily Le Monde reported that 62-year-old Thierry Beaudet, head of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) advisory body and a figure utterly unknown to most French people, was also considered for the job.

“It’s a very serious option,” a person close to Mr. Macron said. “It’s a solid, new response to the need for dialogue in society.”

To the fury of the left, Mr. Macron has refused to accept the nomination of a left-wing premier, arguing such a figure would have no chance of surviving a confidence motion in parliament.

Amid the political deadlock Mr. Macron, who has less than three years of his term remaining, has run down the clock as the Olympics and Paralympics took place in Paris, to the growing frustration of opponents.

But amid signs of an acceleration as France returns from holidays, Mr. Macron early Monday hosted Cazeneuve, a former leading Socialist who headed the government in the final months of Hollande’s 2012-17 presidential term.

Mr. Cazeneuve was regarded by many commentators as the figure most likely to be named by Mr. Macron, but his appointment is far from a foregone conclusion.

Mr. Cazeneuve, 61, spent years as interior minister, including during the 2015 Paris attacks, and enjoys respect from across the political spectrum.

But the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party was unimpressed and vowed to seek to vote him out of office.

Centre of gravity

Mr. Macron also held talks with Xavier Bertrand, the right-wing head of the northern Hauts-de-France region and a former minister.

Mr. Bertrand, 59, would be a much more palatable figure for the right as premier.

Mr. Sarkozy remains an influential figure on the right – despite a string of graft convictions after leaving office on charges he denies – and even within Macron’s circle, has already made his preference clear.

“The centre of gravity of French politics is on the right”, he argued in the Figaro daily on Saturday.

He said Mr. Bertrand would be a “good choice”, while opposing Mr. Cazeneuve’s nomination.

For a president who came to office in 2017 vowing radical change as to how France is ruled, naming a former prime minister from a previous administration could be seen as a step backwards by Macron.

“Appointing Bernard Cazeneuve to the office of prime minister would implicitly acknowledge the fact that the ‘new world’ has failed,” Le Monde wrote in an editorial.

France’s left-wing New Popular Front alliance had demanded that the president pick their candidate Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist and civil servant with a history of left-wing activism.

On Monday, Castets indicated the left-wing coalition might be open to dialogue.

“The New Popular Front supports a change of policy, and therefore, it will support a candidate, a person who is in a position to change the policy,” she said.

Whoever is named will face the most delicate of tasks in seeking to agree legislation in a highly polarised National Assembly at a time of immense challenges.

An October 1 deadline is now looming for a new government to file a draft budget law for 2025 — something the caretaker administration under Gabriel Attal, in place since July, cannot oversee.

With debts piling up to 110 percent of annual output, France has this year suffered a credit rating cut from Standard and Poor’s and been told off by the European Commission for excessive deficits.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti attend a ceremony to seal the right to abortion in the French constitution, on International Women’s Day, at the Place Vendome, in Paris, on March 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

France inscribed the guaranteed right to abortion in its constitution on March 8, a powerful message of support for women’s rights on International Women’s Day.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti used a 19th-century printing press to seal the amendment in France’s constitution at a special public ceremony. Applause filled the cobblestoned Place Vendome as France became the first country to explicitly guarantee abortion rights in its national charter.

The measure was overwhelmingly approved by French lawmakers earlier this week, and Friday’s ceremony means it can now enter into force.

While abortion is a deeply divisive issue in the United States, it’s legal in nearly all of Europe and overwhelmingly supported in France, where it’s seen more as a question of public health rather than politics. French legislators approved the constitutional amendment on Monday in a 780-72 vote that was backed by many far-right lawmakers.

Friday’s ceremony in Paris was a key event on a day focused on advancing women’s rights globally. Marches, protests and conferences are being held from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Mexico City and beyond.

Also Read: What is the historic amendment that enshrined abortion access in France’s Constitution? | Explained

The French constitutional amendment has been hailed by women’s rights advocates around the world, including places where women struggle to access birth control or maternal health care. French President Emmanuel Macron called it a direct result of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 rescinding long-held abortion rights.

Macron’s critics questioned why he pursued the measure in a country with no obvious threat to abortion rights but where women face a multitude of other problems.

While some French women saw the step as a major win, others said that in reality not every French woman has access to abortion.

“It’s a smokescreen,” Arya Meroni, 32, said of the event.

“The government is destroying our health care system, many family planning clinics have closed,’’ she said at an annual “Feminist Night March” in Paris on the eve of International Women’s Day.

France has a persistently high rate of women killed by their partners and challenges remain in prosecuting sexual abuse against women by powerful celebrities and other men. French women also see lower pay and pensions — especially women who are not white.

Macron’s government said the abortion amendment was important to avoid a U.S.-like scenario for women in France, as hard-right groups are gaining ground and seeking to turn back the clock on freedoms around Europe.

Macron will preside over the constitutional ceremony. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti will use a 100-kilogram (220-pound) press from 1810 to imprint the amendment in France’s 1958 constitution.

It will include the phrase, “the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed.” The ceremony will be held outdoors with the public invited, in another first.

France follows in the footsteps of the former Yugoslavia, whose 1974 constitution included the phrase: “A person is free to decide on having children.” Yugoslavia’s successor states retained similar language in their constitutions, though they did not spell out guaranteed abortion rights.

Not everyone saw the day as a cause for celebration, as angry protest marches were held in numerous countries.

The head of the Danish Trade Union Confederation, which has 1.3 million members, chafed at how differently women and men are treated in some areas.

“Unfortunately, we still see sky-high pay differences, professions dominated by one sex, a gender-segregated labor market, harassment cases that primarily affect women and a wide range of other equality problems,” Morten Skov Christensen said.

In other events Friday:

In Ireland, voters will decide whether to change the constitution to remove passages referring to women’s domestic duties and broadening the definition of the family.

At street rallies in Seoul, participants had an eye on next month’s parliamentary elections in South Korea and expressed hope that parties would prioritize gender equality.

In Russia, where the United Nations says human rights have deteriorated since the military’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin saluted Russian women fighting in the war and those waiting at home for their loved ones who had been deployed.

Protesters in Istanbul plan to call attention to violence against women, and rallies are expected in many cities. Protests in Turkey are often political and, at times, violent, rooted in women’s efforts to improve their rights as workers. This year’s global theme is “Inspire Inclusion.”

Indonesian demonstrators demanded adoption of the International Labor Organization’s conventions concerning gender equality and eliminating workplace violence and harassment. Labor rights groups in Thailand marched to the Government House to petition for better work conditions, and activists marching against violence in the Philippine capital were stopped by police near the presidential palace, sparking a brief scuffle.

India’s government cut the price of cooking gas cylinders by 100 rupees ($1.20) with Prime Minister Narendra Modi posting on social media that the move was “in line with our commitment to empowering women.”

The United Nations children’s agency said in a report released on International Women’s Day that more than 230 million women and girls around the world have undergone female genital mutilation. The number has increased by 30 million in the past eight years, it said.

“We’re also seeing a worrying trend that more girls are subjected to the practice at younger ages, many before their fifth birthday. That further reduces the window to intervene,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, International Women’s Day is a national holiday in about 20 countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Afghanistan.