France’s Macron hosts ex-presidents as search for PM narrows

PARIS   -   French President Emmanuel Macron was to host former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande Monday as he weighed options for prime minister after inconclusive parliamentary polls, with one centre-left figure the apparent front-runner. Bernard Cazeneuve, a former leading Socialist who headed the government in the final months of Hollande’s 2012-17 presidential term, will also meet Macron during the morning, people close to Cazeneuve and people in the president’s office told AFP. Cazeneuve, 61, spent years as interior minister, including during the traumatic 2015 Paris attacks, and enjoys respect from across the political spectrum. He was “not asking (for the job of prime minister) but would do it out of duty” if called upon, people in his circle said. Cazeneuve was “a responsible man of the left who would take into account the political but also the economic situation of the country,” they added.

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