Ex-French PM believes Macron will leave office early – Politico

Edouard Philippe has reportedly told his party to prepare for a snap presidential election in 2025, which he intends to take part in

Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe believes President Emmanuel Macron may be forced to leave office next year before his term expires, Politico has reported, citing anonymous sources. Philippe, who led the French government between 2017 and 2020, and now serves as mayor of Le Havre, earlier this week announced his plans to vie for the country’s top job in the next presidential election.     

Macron called a snap parliamentary vote in June following the poor showing by his centrist bloc in the European Parliament election. In the snap vote, no party secured an outright majority, which has left France with a hung parliament.    

In an article on Wednesday, Politico quoted several unnamed senior members of the Horizons party as claiming that Philippe expects Macron not to be able to hold out until the end of his term in 2027.   

The former prime minister reportedly instructed his party to “be ready for a spring” in 2025 as he “considers that everything can move,” according to Politico.     

In an interview with Le Point on Tuesday, Philippe made it clear that he “would be a candidate for the next presidential election.” When asked whether he would be ready in case of an earlier election, he said “yes, I confirm it.”    

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Meanwhile, in a post on X last Saturday, the parliamentary leader of the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party, Mathilde Panot, announced that the “draft resolution to initiate the procedure for the impeachment of the President of the Republic, in accordance with Article 68 of the Constitution, was sent today to parliamentarians for co-signatures.”   

The move came after Macron refused to appoint as prime minister the candidate proposed by the New Popular Front, the broad left-wing coalition that secured the largest share of seats in the parliamentary election. LFI is a member of the bloc.  

“Macron refuses to submit to the people’s vote, so we must dismiss him,” Panot explained, sharing the draft of the resolution, which stated that the “National Assembly (lower house) and Senate can and must defend democracy against the president’s authoritarian leanings.”  

To set the impeachment process in motion, the LFI, which has 72 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, must collect signatures from at least 10% of the members of parliament under its motion.