Earlier in the day, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resigned, with Macron accepting her resignation and thanking her for her "exemplary work."
However, some French politicians have not been so appreciative of Borne's accomplishments. Mathilde Panot, the president of the La France Insoumise left-wing group in the French parliament, said that the prime minister's legacy were 23 instances of invoking the 49.3 constitutional clause, which allows to push a bill through the parliament with no vote, and a "stained democracy."
A member of the French Socialist Party, Boris Vallaud, said that "Borne [would] forever remain a prime minister of the imposed pension reform and the immigration law in the spirit of the National Front [the former name of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party]."
At the same time, a spokesman for the National Rally party, Sebastien Chenu, said that Borne "[would] not set a new record in invoking the 49.3 clause," with former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard being the absolute leader by invoking that clause 28 times.
A member of Europe Ecology – The Greens party, Sandrine Rousseau, said that Borne had "sold her soul to keep her position, but was left with neither." She also described the immigration law pushed through by Borne as an "unsurpassed loss."
French media speculate that the 34-year-old Education Minister, the youngest in Macron's government, Gabriel Attal, is the most likely candidate for the position of prime minister.
Meanwhile, Pannot demanded that a vote of confidence in the new prime minister be carried out.
"No matter who the monarch replaces her [Borne] with, we demand a vote of confidence in the parliament!" she wrote on X.
Otherwise, her party will put forward a vote of no confidence in the new prime minister, the lawmaker added.
A vote of confidence in the newly appointed prime minister is a tradition in the French political system, aimed at demonstrating that the head of government can count on the support of the deputies. It is not mandatory under the French Constitution. However, in accordance with the tradition, the deputies hold this vote after the new prime minister presents the main direction of the future government policy. Elisabeth Borne, who became prime minister in May 2022, did not hold the voting.