French leftists threaten President Macron with impeachment but fail to agree with leftist allies

The French far left issued a solemn threat of impeachment against President Macron, but its implementation does not seem realistic. The left-wing alliance does not have a majority in the French parliament.

Moreover, Melenchon’s partners in the left-wing coalition, including the Socialists, refused to support the initiative, which is likely to remain only a radical statement by the far left.

“France Unbowed” threatened President Macron with impeachment

The French far-left party “France Unbowed” has threatened President Emmanuel Macron with impeachment, accusing him of an “institutional coup against democracy” for refusing to “take into consideration” the results of the snap parliamentary elections in July.

Representatives of the “France Unbowed” stated this in a publication in the newspaper La Tribune. The authors of the publication write that Macron “should know that all constitutional means will be used to dismiss him.”

While Macron is to hold consultations with political forces next Friday to form a government, “France Unbowed” notes that he is “going to appoint a prime minister without taking into account the political outcome” of these parliamentary elections, in which the left-wing, united in the New Popular Front, won but didn’t achieve a majority.

Macron ruled out the possibility of appointing Lucie Castets as prime minister

On July 23, Macron ruled out the possibility of appointing Lucie Castets, a representative of the “France Unbowed” party, as prime minister, claiming that she would not be able to gather enough support in parliament.
“The decision of the head of state can be characterized as an institutional coup against democracy,” the party said.

The deputies refer to Article 68 of the Constitution, which allows the parliament to impeach the president for “failure to fulfill his duties, clearly incompatible with the fulfillment of his mandate.”

“It is clear that the refusal to note the legislative elections and the decision to ignore them is a shameful violation of the basic requirements of the presidential mandate,” the authors of the publication state.

Earlier this week, the head of the French government, Gabriel Attal, suggested that political forces in the National Assembly—in addition to the far-left France Unbowed and the far-right National Rally—form a broad coalition.

Socialists refused to support France Unbowed’s initiative

Socialist Party (PS) leader Olivier Faure has disassociated himself from his rebel allies, “France Unbowed”, who have threatened to initiate impeachment against Emmanuel Macron, wiping out any chance of such proceedings succeeding.

“This publication is signed only by the leaders of LFI. It only commits their movement. The response to the appointment of a PM who does not conform to republican tradition is censure,” Olivier Faure wrote on X.

“France Unbowed” leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot, and movement coordinator Manuel Bompard had justified their initiative by denouncing an ‘institutional coup against democracy’ attributed to Emmanuel Macron, about, in their view, ‘to appoint a head of government without taking into account the political result’ of the snap legislative elections.

Solemn warning

This solemn warning from the “France Unbowed” would have been difficult to implement even if the entire NFP (all left alliance parties) had supported it: an impeachment procedure requires persuading the Assembly and Senate to support their stance. This necessitates a two-thirds majority in each chambre, followed by a vote by all MPs.

The left-wing NFP coalition, which came out on top in the second round of the early legislative elections but is far from having an absolute majority in the Assembly, has laid claim to Matignon and would like to install senior civil servant Lucie Castets there.

She is due to accompany an NFP delegation to the Élysée Palace on Friday for a day of consultations organized by Emmanuel Macron with all the leaders of the political forces in Parliament. After that, it may become known who Macron will propose to form the new government.