Possible 'National Emergency Gov't' Faces Its Own Hurdles

Media speculation surrounding potential candidates to become head of a 'national emergency gov't' has circled in recent days, with figures from the centre-right of French politics potentially in the frame. While there is unlikely to be any significant movement on the political front in August, with the National Assembly on its summer break until 2 September at the earliest, behind-the-scenes negotiations could take place between senior figures from various parties over the coming weeks.

• President of the Regional Council of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand, former minister and European Commissioner Michel Barnier, and Senate President Gerard Larcher [all hailing from the centre-right Les Republicains (LR) ] have been spoken of by Gender Equality Minister Aurore Berge as figures who could lead a broad gov't.
  
• The leftist New Popular Front (NFP)'s candidate for PM, Parisian civil servant Lucie Castets, has said that the appointment of a figure such as Bertrand "is, from a democratic point of view, an aberration," given that the NFP is the largest bloc with 182 of 577 seats compared to just 46 for LR.
• Macron has already rejected Castets for the PM position, claiming she cannot command a majority in the National Assembly. However, a Bertrand administration would also face difficulty in avoiding censure motions from the right-wing nationalist Rassemblement National. Heading the regional gov't in France's northeast, Bertrand has been a major bulwark against the RN in one of its core regions and as such has earned a position as one of RN's most detested political opponents.