PARIS, Dec 10, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - French party leaders will gather at President
Emmanuel Macron's Elysee Palace office Tuesday afternoon in a bid to chart a
route towards a new government, days after Prime Minister Michel Barnier was
toppled in a confidence vote.

Shutting out the far-right National Rally (RN) and hard-left France Unbowed
(LFI), the effort to find a way forward comes as caretaker ministers scramble
to clarify France's 2025 finances, after the previous administration fell
over its cost-cutting budget plans.

"The aim is to move forward with a deal about a method" to build a new
government on the unstable foundations of a hung parliament, people close to
Macron said late Monday.

Barnier had been supported by conservative Republicans and Macron's centrist
camp, but the shaky alliance was far short of an overall majority in a
National Assembly split three ways with the NFP left alliance and the RN.

It is unclear how leaders could build a broader base of support for any new
government.

Most are unwilling to compromise on pet issues such as last year's unpopular
pension reform, or to tarnish their image with voters by compromising ahead
of potential new elections next year.

"We will not participate in a government of 'national interest' with the
Republicans or Macronists or whoever," Greens party leader Marine Tondelier
said Monday -- a position mirrored by Republicans chief Laurent Wauqiez.

In a letter late Sunday, Socialist leaders told Macron they were open to
"dialogue and pitting points of view against one another" to "find an exit
from this deadlock situation that's harmful to the French public".

But they added that they would not join a technocratic government or one run
by a prime minister from the right, and called for "a true change of
political course" on "pensions, purchasing power and tax justice".

- Taxes and borrowing -

Bringing so many parties together around one table marked progress from
Macron's first attempt to reach consensus after July's snap election,
commentator Guillaume Tabard wrote in conservative daily Le Figaro.

"But if even a minimal deal is to be found ranging from the Republicans to
the Communists, it will require an enormous labour of negotiation that will
take days or weeks," he added.

"The promise to quickly replace Barnier, yet again issued with confidence,
will once again be betrayed."

In an apparent acknowledgement that progress will be slow, Macron's office
said that a special budget law to allow the French state to keep functioning
would be presented to caretaker ministers Wednesday on its way to parliament.

Its three measures include authorising the government to continue raising
existing taxes until a new budget is passed by MPs, a ministerial source told
AFP.

The state and the social security system will also be allowed to continue
borrowing on financial markets to avoid any interruption of payments, the
source added.