Solitary Macron walks banks of the Seine to plan crunch decision on France’s future

PARIS — A solitary President Emmanuel Macron was spotted walking and making calls beside the Seine River on Monday, as he weighed his crucial response to the chaos engulfing France after the shock resignation of his fifth government since reelection in 2022.

Ever the political showman, Macron — pacing the flagstones of the quais in a dark navy overcoat — was also seen talking to passers-by, in images that contrast with accusations that the former Rothschild banker is disconnected from ordinary people.

The outing fits with his model of ostentatious displays at critical political moments.

Macron took a stroll, then a boat trip on the Seine, when he resigned as economy minister in 2016 to launch his presidential bid. On the night of his election in 2017, he took a three-minute victory lap around the Louvre Museum, again in the dark overcoat preferred for moments of high drama.

After Sébastien Lecornu’s resignation as PM mere hours after his government was appointed, Macron has his back against the wall, as the crisis in the eurozone’s No. 2 economy is sapping confidence in both French markets and the euro.

The appointment last month of a close ally as prime minister was seen as the last resort for the French president. If the ultimate Macron loyalist couldn’t secure a functioning government and make a deal with opposition parties on the budget, who could?

Now the president faces an array of unappetizing options: appointing a new prime minister who will almost certainly fail, or calling a snap election that will probably bring the far-right National Rally closer to power. Or something he said he would never do: resign.

In a sign of the difficulties he faces, the French president seemed angry and appeared to snap at a close ally during a conversation Monday morning, according to the ally, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

The tension is at its peak. Lecornu walked out on Monday when the newly reappointed interior minister (and head of the conservatives), Bruno Retailleau, said he wasn’t sure his party wanted to stay in government.

The French president could now appoint a new prime minister, but anybody from the center right, the left or even a technocrat would struggle to push a divided and hostile parliament to agree on a slimmed-down budget.

Calling a snap parliamentary election could buy the president time, but polls show it would strengthen the far right. And less than two years before a presidential election, boosting the far right is hardly something the French president wants to add to his legacy.

Elisa Bertholomey and Pauline de Saint Remy contributed reporting.