Pressure grows on Macron to name new premier

PARIS, Dec 09 (AFP): French President Emmanuel Macron was on Monday set to hold a series of consultations with party bosses as pressure grew on him to name a new prime minister and defuse a political crisis.
Last week far-right and hard-left lawmakers joined efforts to oust the minority government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a historic no-confidence vote following a standoff over an austerity budget.
Macron was on Monday morning to receive independent MPs from the centrist Liot group, Green party bosses led by Marine Tondelier and the Communists.
Parliamentary speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said a new head of government should be appointed "within the next few hours".
She urged the president's centrist camp to join forces with the right-wing Republicans (LR), independent MPs and the Socialists.
"You would have a majority, so there is no longer any possibility of censure," she said on Sunday.
The successful parliamentary no-confidence vote, a first in more than six decades, deepened a political crisis and sparked calls for Macron, 46, to step down and call early elections.
A defiant Macron said last week he planned to serve out the remainder of his term, vowing "30 months of useful action" and promising to name a new prime minister in the "coming days".
At the weekend he had a brief respite from the domestic political upheaval, hosting world leaders including US president-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after a devastating fire in 2019.
Macron is now under huge pressure to form a government that can survive a no-confidence vote and pass a budget for next year in a bid to limit political and economic turmoil.