France's Macron acknowledges that dissolving parliament in 2024 backfired

French President Macron faces political crisis after dissolving parliament, seeks consensus to bridge divisions and pass crucial legislation.

French President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged in his New Year's address to the nation that his decision to dissolve parliament, casting France into a political crisis, backfired.

“I must recognise tonight that the dissolution has, for the moment, brought more division in the [National] Assembly than solutions for the French,” he said on Tuesday, adding that "I take my full part for that.”

It was as close as the French leader has come to apologising for his decision in June that triggered early legislative elections. They produced a hung parliament, with the National Assembly roughly split among three sharply opposed main blocks — none with a majority to govern alone.

Mr. Macron has since had to rotate through three Prime Ministers — with Gabriel Attal followed by Michel Barnier followed by the current premier, François Bayrou — in an effort to find a consensus-builder who might be able to bridge parliamentary divisions, pass a 2025 budget and stave off the risk of another governmental collapse.

Mr. Macron expressed hope that lawmakers will form ad hoc majorities to pass legislation and said “our government should be able to follow a path of compromise to get things done.”

His address started on a lighter note — casting back to the Olympic Games and Paralympics in Paris that temporarily shifted the focus from France's political woes.

“Together this year, we proved that impossible isn't French,” Mr. Macron said, voicing over video highlights from the Games. They “showed a France full of audacity and panache, crazily free," he said.