Macron meets French party leaders to try to name a prime minister
Adds talks starting, Castets quote in paragraph 7
By Elizabeth Pineau and Ingrid Melander
PARIS, Aug 23 (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron began meeting party leaders from across France's political spectrum on Friday with the aim, nearly seven weeks after inconclusive parliamentary elections, to finally give the country a new prime minister.
Whoever Macron names will face a tough job, with parliamentary approval of the 2025 budget one of many challenges at a time when France is under pressure from the European Commission and bond markets to reduce its deficit.
Who will become prime minister - and whether they can get a hung parliament to back any reforms - is still very much an open question, with no sign yet of any broader coalition that would have a stable majority.
Macron's gamble to call the snap parliamentary election backfired, with his centrist coalition losing dozens of seats in the June 30 and July 7 ballots, which delivered a hung parliament.
Outgoing Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's government steered France through the Paris Olympics in a caretaker role. But the break is over, and Macron will appoint a prime minister after these talks, which will continue on Monday, his office said.
They have not said exactly when that appointment would come.
"We've come to offer a solution of stability. We are united," Lucie Castets, a little known 37-year-old senior civil servant and the left's candidate for prime minister, said as the Socialists, hard-left France Unbowed, Greens and Communists arrived together to speak with Macron.
The left wing's alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP), topped the vote. But Macron has so far ignored Castets' candidacy, pointing out that despite coming first, the left are far from an absolute majority in parliament.
Instead, he has called for leaders to strike deals beyond party lines to form a government that would have a solid majority.
"Faced with this parliament of minority (parties), there is a need for political leaders to get along with each other," an official in Macron's Elysee office said. The election "forces everyone to change tack and enter into a coalition logic."
Communist party leader Fabien Roussel, whose party also belongs to the NFP alliance, said on Friday that not appointing Castets would trigger a severe crisis - and that the left could leave the talks if Macron made clear he would not choose Castets.
But Castets' chances of getting the job are slim. A source close to Macron told Reuters earlier this month that the president believes the centre of gravity of the new parliament is in the centre or the centre-right.
Other possible candidates include a conservative regional president, Xavier Bertrand and former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeveuve, sources said. French media recently mentioned Karim Bouamrane, the Socialist mayor of an impoverished Paris suburb, as another possible name.
Macron has a history of coming up with unexpected prime ministers. The French Constitution says he is free to name who he wants - however they need to be able to survive no confidence votes from the opposition.
Reporting by Ingrid Melander in Tours and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris; additional reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Michael Perry and Conor Humphries
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