“We have to build compromises,” Macron said in a televised address to the nation three days after his government lost control of the National Assembly in parliamentary elections. “We have to learn to govern and legislate differently.” In April, Macron became the first French president in 20 years to win a second term, but two months later his center-right political coalition did not win a two-round majority vote in the assembly. The government now faces two strong opposition blocs led by far-left and far-right politicians. Macron said he understood the “cracks and deep divisions” in France, but hoped he could pass laws with the support of other parties in the coming weeks that would address the rising cost of living, accelerate his quest for full-time employment and protect the environment and help the overloaded health service. Jean-Luc Melanson, a veteran far-left politician who formed an alliance of the Reds who became the main opposition in the assembly, rejected Macron’s proposals and said the only way forward was for Prime Minister Eliza to seek a vote of confidence. in the assembly and resign if he fails to win it. “The executive branch is weak, but the National Assembly is strong,” said Melanson. Since Sunday’s election, Macron has met elected political leaders of all faiths at the Palais des Champs-Elysées and is trying to persuade them to accept a government of national unity, a governing coalition or at least a series of interim agreements to pass laws. “What is on the table is a way to find the majority so that we can move forward with reform and transform our country,” Olivier Veran, the minister in charge of relations with parliament, said on Wednesday. The Macron government offered “all options”, including a broad coalition, because “we say the situation is serious and we need to be able to join forces and find areas of consensus,” Veran told BFMTV. Without the support of some of his political opponents, including lawmakers from the conservative Les Républicains or the Socialist Party, Macron will fight to push through any legislation to continue his economic reforms or tackle crises in France’s health and education systems. Fabien Roussell, the Communist leader whose party has joined a Red-Green alliance dominated by Melanson, said Macron had proposed a national unity government when he met with him on Tuesday. Marin Le Pen, when asked if Macron had made her the same proposal as leader of the far-right Rassemblement National, said “yes”. On Wednesday night, Macron said most of the political leaders he met had ruled it out and did not see it as justified at this time. Edouard Philippe, mayor of Le Havre and former prime minister of Macron, who joined forces with the president in the parliamentary election campaign, described the idea as a “grand coalition”, while François Bairou, another ally of Macron who leads the center-right Modem said he had told the president that it was important to go as far as possible to achieve “national unity”.

Macron’s problem is that the two largest opposition blocs in the newly elected National Assembly are Melanson’s New Ecological and Social Popular Union (Nupes) and Lepen’s RN – groups dominated by hard-line left and right-wing nationalist politicians whom the liberal will find. chairman it is difficult or impossible to work. Véran has already said that the minority government does not see itself working with Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, the largest component of the Nupes) or with the RN on the grounds that they have no democratic values. “Neither far left nor far right,” he said. That leaves the conservative LR and the more moderate Nupes parties, including the Socialists and Greens, but so far they have all been reluctant to consider a deal with Macron, except on the occasional passage of specific laws. LR President Christian Jacobs said he did not want to obstruct the country’s institutions, but his MPs did not want a formal coalition agreement with Macron. “It’s difficult for Macron for obvious reasons to find people to work with on the RN and most of the Nupes coalition,” said Martin Quencez, deputy director of the German Marshall Fund’s Paris office, a think tank. “In many cases, they were elected on a platform against Macron.” But he added: “This is not the end of the story, this is still very much in the flow.”