Calling snap elections created more instability for France, Macron admits

NEWS WIRES
·1-min read

In a traditional New Year's Eve presidential address, French President Emmanuel Macron admitted on Tuesday that his June decision to call snap elections "brought more division to the National Assembly rather than solutions for the French people", acknowledging that the high-stakes move led to months of political deadlock.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said he recognised that his decision to call early parliamentary elections in June had created more political instability in the country, in a rare moment of contrition.

The speech caps a tumultuous 2024 for Macron, who shocked the nation halfway through the year by calling early elections, a gamble that backfired when voters delivered a hung parliament with a big increase in far-right lawmakers, diluting Macron’s power.

“Lucidity and humility force (me) to recognise that at this stage, this decision has produced more instability than peace, and I fully own up to that,” Macron said in a televised address ahead of New Year celebrations.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The dissolution caused more divisions in the Assembly than solutions for the French people,” he added, in the clearest mea culpa yet since the elections.

Referendums in 2025?

Macron had justified his decision to call early elections in the wake of a bad score at European elections by the need to “clarify” the political situation.


Read more on FRANCE 24 English

Read also:
French far-right leader Le Pen predicts quick demise of new Bayrou govt
French parliament avoids government shutdown by passing special budget rollover bill

Latest stories

  • Kamala Harris’ Carter Funeral Photo Goes Viral Over 1 Key Omission

    "The perfect crop doesn’t exi-," joked one commenter.

  • Chinese families desperate for help as relatives fall victim to yet another human trafficking case in Thailand

    BANGKOK, Jan 14 — Desperate Chinese families are urgently seeking help after their relatives disappeared in Thailand, su...

  • North Korea's suicide soldiers pose new challenge for Ukraine in war with Russia

    After a battle in Russia's snowy western region of Kursk this week, Ukrainian special forces scoured the bodies of more than a dozen slain North Korean enemy soldiers. But it is among mounting evidence from the battlefield, intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors that some North Korean soldiers are resorting to extreme measures as they support Russia's three-year war with Ukraine. "Self-detonation and suicides: that's the reality about North Korea," said Kim, a 32-year-old former North Korean soldier who defected to the South in 2022, requesting he only be identified by his surname due to fears of reprisals against his family left in the North.

  • Trump Snubs Elon With Decision on White House Digs

    Elon Musk is reportedly set to receive office space in the White House complex for his incoming work as co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but he won’t be wall-to-wall with President-elect Donald Trump. Citing two sources that have been briefed on the plans, The New York Times reports that Musk will set up camp at the Eisenhower Executive Office, a separate building adjacent to the White House. It’s still not clear whether Musk’s DOGE partner, Vivek Ramaswamy, will also h

  • IGP: Minister’s son eloped, wedding cert real

    KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Police have verified the claimed marriage of a minister’s son in a neighbouring country last year...

  • Ivanka Trump reveals why she won’t return to the White House

    As her father prepares to take up the presidency for a second time next week, Ivanka Trump revealed that she “hates politics” and has no intention of returning to work at the White House. The 43-year-old former presidential adviser shared the multiple reasons she decided to sit this term out while appearing on Tuesday’s episode of the “Him & Her” podcast. After Donald Trump lost the 2020 ...

  • Trump's Greenland bid stirs debate in China about what to do with Taiwan

    For years, the U.S. government has urged China to show "restraint" in pushing its claim on Taiwan and to drop military threats to bring the democratically governed island under its control. Now - some Chinese commentators say - the power of that long-held U.S. message has been undermined by the threats by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, by force if necessary. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

  • 'Massive Reversal': Trump Ripped For Already Backpedaling On Key Campaign Promise

    The president-elect and one of his advisers just shifted an important timetable.

  • Putrajaya ups SARA for hardcore poor to RM2,100 for 2025, expands MyKad payments to Sabah and Sarawak

    KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — The federal government has increased the annual Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) payments to RM2,100...

  • India's Modi marks opened a strategic tunnel in disputed Kashmir

    India’s prime minister marked Monday the opening of a tunnel in the northeast of disputed Kashmir that will grant all-year accessibility to a town that is isolated by heavy snow each winter. The $932 million project includes a second tunnel and a series of bridges and high mountain roads that will link Kashmir with Ladakh, a cold desert region nestled between India, Pakistan and China that has faced territorial disputes for decades. Amid high security, Narendra Modi visited the resort town of Sonamarg where he inaugurated the 6.5-kilometer (4-mile) tunnel.

  • Israel's Air Force blazes air superiority path to Iran's border

    Israel's actions in the wake of Syria's collapse give it unprecedented power in the air — right up to Iran's border.

  • China mulls potential sale of TikTok US to Musk, Bloomberg News reports

    Beijing officials prefer that TikTok remains under the control of parent Bytedance, the report said, citing sources. TikTok's U.S. operations could either be sold through a competitive process or an arrangement by the government, the report said, suggesting that the future of the app is no longer solely in ByteDance's control. China's government has a "golden share" in ByteDance, which several members of Congress have said gives the government power over Tiktok.

  • South Korean President Yoon arrested over failed martial law bid

    Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday over his failed martial law bid, after hundreds of anti-graft investigators and police raided his residence to end a weeks-long standoff.A first attempt on January 3 failed after a tense hours-long standoff between the guards and anti-graft investigators working with police. 

  • Explainer-Why does Trump want Greenland and could he get it?

    COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to make Greenland a part of the United States and does not rule out using military or economic power to get Denmark to hand it over. WHY DOES TRUMP WANT GREENLAND? Greenland's strategic location and resources could benefit the U.S. It lies along the shortest route from Europe to North America, vital for the U.S. ballistic missile warning system.

  • Russian forces bypass a key stronghold in a bid to cut off its supplies, a Ukrainian officer says

    Russian forces are bypassing a key stronghold in eastern Ukraine that they have fought for months to capture and are focusing instead on cutting supply lines to it, a Ukrainian official said Monday. Russian troops are going around the vital logistics hub of Pokrovsk, where a steadfast Ukrainian defense has kept them at bay, and are taking aim at a highway that leads from there to the central Ukraine city of Dnipro, Maj. Viktor Trehubov, a local Ukrainian army spokesperson, told The Associated Press. Cutting the highway traffic would also severely weaken Pokrovsk.

  • Israeli soldiers refuse to fight until Gaza ceasefire is signed

    A growing number of Israeli soldiers have threatened to stop fighting against Hamas in Gaza unless their government secures a ceasefire.

  • China hits record $1T trade surplus: Chart of the Day

    China has reached a record-breaking trade surplus of $1 trillion, with exports outpacing imports by 21% compared to last year. In today's Chart of the Day, host Madison Mills analyzes what this reveals about the Chinese economy and how it will impact the proposed tariff policy under Trump. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Angel Smith

  • Biden administration finalizes US crackdown on Chinese vehicles

    President Joe Biden's outgoing administration is finalizing rules on Tuesday that will effectively bar nearly all Chinese cars and trucks from the U.S. market, as part of a crackdown on vehicle software and hardware from China. Washington's latest move against Chinese vehicles comes after the Commerce Department said this month it was considering a similar crackdown on Chinese-made drones, in the wake of last year's steep tariff hikes on imports of its electric vehicles. "It's really important because we don't want two million Chinese cars on the road and then realize ... we have a threat," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters in an interview, citing national security concerns.

  • Ukraine losing ground on the battlefield as Trump team pushes ceasefire

    With just a week before Donald Trump re-enters the White House, Ukraine is bracing for some tough choices in the coming months.

  • Canadian Leader Fires Shot at Trump With Plan to Tariff the U.S. Right Back

    The leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party became the latest Canadian elected official to speak out against President-elect Donald Trump’s continued tariff threats, calling on his counterparts running in this year’s upcoming federal election to support countermeasures against the U.S. Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the left-leaning minority party, called on Canadian leaders to impose “retaliatory tariffs” on U.S. imports and cut off exports of crucial minerals like cobalt and lithium. “In order t