French President Emmanuel Macron will name a new prime minister this week, likely ruling out snap parliamentary elections that threatened to drive the country deeper into political chaos.
France has been mired in protracted budgetary deadlock, resulting in multiple governments being unseated. The outgoing premier — Macron’s seventh — told French television that a path out of the morass was “still possible,” but would be “difficult.” Though a definitive resolution still looks distant, the euro gained on the news.
The longer-term ramifications of the entrenched crisis could be significant, though: “Deep disagreement about a societal project [creates] revolutionary situations,” a leading French historian told Le Monde. “Revolutions happen because the elites are not up to the task.”