French President Emmanuel Macron met with senior political leaders at the Élysée ahead of his self-imposed deadline on Friday to appoint a new prime minister, as the head of France’s central bank cautioned that ongoing political uncertainty was undermining economic growth.

Macron, 47, is searching for his sixth prime minister in under two years and will need to find a figure whose appeal spans the centre-right to centre-left in order to steer the budget for 2026 through a fragmented and fractious parliament.

Ahead of the meeting, the president’s Elysee office said the gathering needed to be a “moment of collective responsibility,” which political pundits quickly interpreted as a signal he could call snap parliamentary elections if no consensus candidate was found.

Party leaders from

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