French President Emmanuel Macron is exploring a non-aggression pact with moderate parties of left and right under which he would concede to some of their demands and they would promise not to censure his next prime minister following the unceremonious ousting of Michel Barnier.
In an effort to calm the political turmoil in France, Macron on Tuesday held talks at the Elysée palace with party leaders, during which they laid out their demands and hinted at premiers they would object to. Politicians on the left say they do not want François Bayrou, a centrist politician who has long supported Macron.
Macron excluded from the talks the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), the largest party in the National Assembly, and the far-left France Unbowed (LFI), which both teamed up with other leftwing parties to vote out Barnier after just three months in office over his budget plans.