Macron says he will only appoint government after the Olympics

French president Emmanuel Macron has said it will not appoint a new government until after the end of the Paris Olympics.

The decision comes after the New Popular Front (NFP), a left-wing coalition that constitutes the largest group in the French parliament after the recent elections, presented a little-known civil servant, Lucie Castets, as a candidate for prime minister.

Responding to the proposal, Macron said making a new appointment before mid-August would “create disorder”.

Left-wing politicians accused him of trying to “overturn the result of the legislative elections”.

The Olympics begin with an opening ceremony in central Paris on Friday and end on August 11.

Mr Macron accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, following heavy losses for his centrist party in the parliamentary elections that ended earlier this month.

However, Attal and his ministers agreed to remain in the form of a provisional government until replacements could be appointed.

In the French system, the president traditionally appoints a prime minister who is capable of commanding a majority in the National Assembly.

No party now has a majority, but the NFP controls at least 182 of the 577 seats, putting it in the strongest position to put forward a candidate.

On Tuesday, after weeks of negotiations and just an hour before Macron was scheduled to appear on television, the group introduced Castets, citing his history of working to defend public services.

Ms. Castets is a 37-year-old economist and civil servant who currently works as director of finance and purchasing for the city of Paris, but has no experience in party politics.

The choice is unusual as the prime minister is normally a sitting member of the National Assembly.

Writing in X, Castets said it was “with great humility, but also with great conviction” that he accepted the nomination.

But asked about the NFP proposal during an interview with national public broadcaster France 2, Macron said: “This is not the question. The name is not the question. The question is: what majority can emerge in the assembly?

“Of course we need to focus on the Games until mid-August.

“Until mid-August, we are not in a position to change things because that would create disorder.”

He also said that no parliamentary group emerged from the elections with a majority and that there is still no certainty as to who will be in a position to appoint a prime minister.

He said he would try to name a prime minister with “the broadest possible support.”

Macron’s comments provoked an angry reaction from some NFP members.

Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the Ecologists, one of the group’s constituent parties, said Macron “must come out of denial.”

“We won, we have a program, we have a prime minister,” she wrote in X.

“Our voters now expect the social justice and environmental justice measures they asked for to be put into practice.

“The president can’t block them like that.”

Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of France Unbowed, accused him of trying to “annul the result of the legislative elections”.

“This is an unbearable denial of democracy,” he said. “In France there is no presidential veto when the people express their will.”