The government of French President Emmanuel Macron resigned on Tuesday in a sign of the unprecedented political gridlock that has gripped France as it prepares to host the Summer Olympics.
Macron’s decision to accept the resignation of his Prime Minister Gabriel Attal—more than a week after he offered it—is mainly a tactical move. It allows cabinet members who successfully ran for seats in France’s recent snap parliamentary election to take up their roles as lawmakers in the divided National Assembly on Thursday and vote on the next speaker of the lower house.
That Macron is willing to hamstring his own administration with the Olympics around the corner is a measure of how badly the president’s pro-business party has been weakened in Parliament. France is planning a spectacular opening ceremony on July 26 along the Seine River that will demand a herculean effort to organize and secure.
In France, the president appoints the prime minister, who is then tasked with forming a government. But if lawmakers are unhappy with the president’s pick, they can put forward a no-confidence vote. If the motion wins the support of at least 289 lawmakers, the government is forced to resign.
When Macron named 35-year-old Attal as his prime minister in January the move was seen as an anointment of the young politician as a successor when the president’s term expires. That image of ministerial competence has now been replaced by one of a government hurtling rudderless toward the Olympics.
