‘Miracle did not happen’ in talks with French PM, far right says

PARIS — French Prime Minister François Bayrou’s last-ditch attempt to woo the far-right National Rally and thereby prevent his government from collapsing came up short, party President Jordan Bardella said.

“The miracle did not happen, the meeting today will not change the position of the National Rally,” Bardella told reporters Tuesday after he and Marine Le Pen met with Bayrou.

Bardella said that Bayrou had crossed some of the National Rally’s red lines with the unpopular €43.8 billion budget squeeze that will be at the heart of a confidence vote on Monday. The far right believes Bayrou did not sufficiently target costs associated with immigration and European Union membership.

“If the question is: Do we have confidence in this government? The answer is no, we don’t,” said Le Pen.

Bayrou is holding talks with parties from across the political spectrum this week, ostensibly to find common ground. After the prime minister unveiled his plans to hold a confidence vote last week, France’s political opposition quickly said they would vote to bring down his minority government, leaving the longtime centrist little hope of survival.

According to Le Pen, Bayrou already knows his government is toast.

“He chose to hit the eject button, and then lead consultations. If he really wanted to talk in earnest, he would have started negotiations as early as July,” she said.

Should Bayrou fall, it’s unclear how French President Emmanuel Macron will find a way out of deadlock. Opposition parties have shown little appetite for budget cuts necessary to balance France’s books and stave off growing concerns about runaway public spending in the eurozone’s second-biggest economy.

The French president has already started consultations on who might replace Bayrou as prime minister, according to several of his allies.

“He’s trying to walk a tightrope” and find a new prime minister who can get a budget through parliament and not get toppled, said one person close to Macron. Several names have started circulating in the French press, including Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin and Economy and Finance Minister Éric Lombard.

But on Tuesday, Le Pen dampened early hopes of a compromise with any future prime minister backed by the French president.

“It’s the Emmanuel Macron’s policies that are toxic,” she said. Bayrou’s successor would have to “break” with Macron, she said, if he wanted to survive for any length of time.