French parliament rejects proposal to impeach President Macron

ANKARA

The French parliament on Tuesday rejected a proposal to impeach President Emmanuel Macron, a move confirmed by a left-wing lawmaker.

The hard-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, or LFI) party had submitted the proposal in September, accusing Macron of obstructing the political process following the snap parliamentary elections held on June 30 and July 7.

The LFI claimed that Macron’s actions delayed the political process and ignored the election results.

After an initial rejection last week by the Laws Committee of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, the proposal was also dismissed by the Conference of Presidents, the European Parliament president and political groups' leaders.

This decision effectively buried the impeachment proposal, preventing it from reaching the parliamentary agenda.

Mathilde Panot, a member of parliament from LFI, criticized the decision at a news conference, saying Macron dodged a debate in the National Assembly over his “dangerous and erratic behavior” and his disregard for the election results.

She lashed out at the far-right National Rally (RN) and its former leader Marine Le Pen for supporting the rejection of the impeachment proposal.

“We will not give up. We will continue to submit this proposal until the impeachment is debated in the National Assembly,” Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of LFI, said on X.

The LFI was part of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance during the elections. After the results, party members criticized Macron for not nominating NFP candidate Lucie Castets as prime minister, even though the alliance secured the most seats.

Macron dissolved the parliament and called for early elections after the far-right RN won more than 31% of the vote in the European Parliament elections on June 9, defeating his centrist bloc.