France has been without an official government for seven weeks, the longest in the history of the Fifth Republic. A caretaker prime minister and government have been running the country for what President Macron declared the ‘Olympic truce’. That truce is now over, yet the President is in no hurry to appoint a new prime minister. One can understand why. A clear majority of French voted for alternatives to Macronist policies in the European and legislative elections, something the President refuses to accept. Whichever government is eventually appointed will unpick much of the President’s policies over the last seven years. And given that the locus of power will shift from the Elysée Palace to the National Assembly, it is no surprise that Macron prefers delay to what Le Monde calls ‘the spectre of his programmed effacement’.

Dismissive of time, Macron took three weeks to appoint Elisabeth Borne as prime minister, shattering the Fifth Republic’s record

One wonders whether Jupiter believes a government at all necessary for France. After all, Belgium survived for 592 days without one from 2019, and Holland for 7 months in 2023. Is it worth........

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