The French president treated his latest ex-PM like a booty call and now they\u2019re married again<\/p>\n
This is some real Fatal Attraction stuff going on right now in France. Sebastien Lecornu, please blink three times if you need rescuing, or if someone needs to guard your rabbits.
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron just can\u2019t quit his second prime minister in less than a week \u2013 who just happens to be the same guy.
\nLecornu, a 39-year-old former defense minister, tried to put himself out of his political misery about a week ago. He knocked on Macron\u2019s door and called it quits. Macron accepted his resignation but asked if he could stick around. You know, not officially to be in a relationship as Macron\u2019s prime minister, but to be his booty call.
\nIn other words, still do everything that a prime minister would do. That is, consult with all the parties to try to come to some sort of a workable arrangement. Because, as Lecornu pointed out a week ago, all these parties were just impossible to work with because they were all acting like they were running the show and calling the shots. The anti-establishment right and left leading the charge against Macron\u2019s agenda may have been led to believe that as a result of actually being elected by the people with an opposition majority.
\nLecornu had just under a month to get a budget done up, but ended up handing in the roster for his newly proposed government the night before. Since it was loaded with establishment retreads, it was becoming clear what sort of grade he\u2019d be getting in the form of a parliamentary non-confidence vote. So he didn\u2019t even wait around for that shove. He jumped instead, handing in his resignation to Macron the day before.<\/p>\n
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French governments keep blowing up with Macron in the blast radius<\/p>\n
But Macron apparently realized that this poor guy whose career had just been reduced to a splatter pattern on the Elysee rug was the best that he could do. How do we know that he thought this? Because Lecornu has just said so: \u201cI don\u2019t have the sense that there were many candidates, to be totally transparent.\u201d\u00a0He also sounded like he really wanted to take a shower: \u201cI think what\u2019s ridiculous is the spectacle that the entire political scene has been playing out for several days now. I was clear at the beginning of the week. My mission was complete.\u201d
\nSo now Lecornu is officially back as Macron\u2019s side piece. But he wants Macron to know that he\u2019s a strong independent prime minister who isn\u2019t under any president\u2019s thumb. \u201cI don\u2019t have an agenda,\u201d he said. \u201cI have no other ambition than to get out of this moment that\u2019s objectively very painful for everyone.\u201d
\nNot everyone, actually. This is the best show on French TV. This guy is now on his second government in a week. He jumped out the window, was hauled back in, and was told to keep limping along. France is really upping the game in the comedy-horror genre.
\nAnyway, it looks like Lecornu\u2019s adventures in masochism are just getting started. The anti-establishment right and left have already said that they\u2019ll vote down whatever government he\u2019s obligated to come up with.
\nEven the parliamentary head of Macron\u2019s own establishment Renaissance party, another one of his ex-PMs, Gabriel Attal, had warned Macron not to \u201cgive the impression of clinging on to control over everything.\u201d Sounds like even Macron\u2019s own party doesn\u2019t want themselves in charge anymore.<\/p>\n
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Returning French prime minister warns his term may be brief<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t you worry, Gabriel! Lecornu says that the new government won\u2019t have to answer to his new man, and will be \u201ccompletely disconnected from presidential ambitions.\u201d\u00a0Rather, it would be a \u201cgovernment of mission.\u201d\u00a0And that mission is to pass a budget by the end of the year \u2013 giving him a month and a half more of futzing around before he has to throw in the towel and resign for a second time, so this whole charade can start over again. As a vote of confidence in Lecornu, the French press is already asking if he\u00a0could maybe just present a budget without the need for any government at all. Hell yeah, maybe he can even wear a crown while doing it?
\nPicking a prime minister capable of lasting more than a few days has traditionally been one of the most basic presidential functions, and Macron can\u2019t seem to get the job done. Now on his sixth prime minister in three years, he\u2019s so bad at this that he\u2019s taken to politically remarrying this latest one like they\u2019re trying to beat Ben Affleck and J.Lo\u2019s record. And that one already looks headed for yet another divorce.
\nStill, all the calls for Macron to resign are little more than idiotic political posturing. He doesn\u2019t have to. So he won\u2019t. It\u2019s that simple. Just because he\u2019s in the blast radius doesn\u2019t mean that he\u2019s wearing the suicide belt.
\nWhat unhappy parliamentarians do have control over is the eventual dissolution of parliament and forcing new elections. In other words, they\u2019ll have to put their own behinds on the line and risk losing their own seats for the greater good and stability of the country.\u00a0
\nTo that end, the opposition can vote to reject whatever government Macron\u2019s handpicked prime minister puts forward \u2013 even on a daily basis if they want to. Meaning that either Lecornu operates a revolving door of governments until he decides to resign yet again, or Macron establishes his own turnstile featuring a series of prime ministers that each spend a few days playing the same game \u2013 all until Macron finally realizes that it\u2019s time for new parliamentary elections.
\nIn the meantime, maybe Macron can find a way to harness all this kinetic energy of ministerial turnover for the power grid. If only because it\u2019ll be needed with all the TVs turning on to watch this grande dumpster flambee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The French president treated his latest ex-PM like a booty call and now they\u2019re married again This is some real Fatal Attraction stuff going on right now in France. Sebastien…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t