Who will be the next prime minister of France? Almost two months after the centre lost its majority in the National Assembly, the potential candidates range from the improbable to the ludicrous.
The latest semi-crazed idea is that Emmanuel Macron should call on Ségolene Royal, the former wife of François Hollande, a socialist party machine politician hated in equal measure by both the extreme left and populist right and who generates no enthusiasm from either the moderate Republicans or the residue of the president’s centre.
Admittedly, this idea is floated by Royal herself and has been met with general derision.
Or perhaps Bernard Cazeneuve, a moderate socialist who was Hollande’s prime minister for six months. On Monday he was on the verge of being appointed, until he wasn’t.
Or Xavier Bertrand, a centrist conservative who hates Macron and who would be fiercely opposed by Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, which is numerically the largest party in the Assembly.
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