Opponents of French Prime Minister François Bayrou look near certain to bring down his minority government early next month over his plans to slash the budget by nearly €44 billion.
Since snap elections last summer delivered a hung parliament, Macron has tried but failed to convince lawmakers to engage in the type of compromise and coalition-building exercises common in parliamentary democracies like Italy and Germany, but rare in France.
When asked if Bayrou’s likely ouster would lead to another dissolution of parliament and fresh elections, Macron said he would not engage in “fictional politics.” He also ruled out resigning.
More support for Ukraine
Macron and Merz committed to ramp up support for Ukraine at Friday’s talks, where massive Russian strikes this week have cast further doubt on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s purported desire for peace.
Macron announced that leaders of the “coalition of the willing,” a group of Western countries working on security guarantees for Ukraine in case of a ceasefire with Russia, would speak by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump this weekend and meet with each other next week.
The French president also said that if a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn’t happen by Monday as requested by the U.S. president, it will “mean that President Putin has played President Trump.”
