In a traditional New Year's Eve address, French President Emmanuel Macron admitted that his decision to call early parliamentary elections in June had brought more political instability to France rather than "solutions for the French people" – acknowledging that the high-stakes move had led to months of political deadlock.
The speech caps a tumultuous 2024 for Macron, who shocked the nation in June by unilaterally calling snap elections after the far right National Rally trounced his centrist bloc in the European polls.
His gamble backfired when voters delivered a hung parliament with a big increase in far-right lawmakers, limiting Macron's power.
"Lucidity and humility force (me) to recognise that at this stage, this decision has produced more instability than peace, and I fully own up to that," Macron said in a televised address ahead of New Year's celebrations.
"The dissolution caused more divisions in the assembly than solutions for the French people," he added, in the clearest mea culpa since the elections.
Macron had justified his decision to call snap polls in the wake of the European elections by the need to "clarify" the political situation.
But he lost his relative majority and took two months to name a minority government, which eventually collapsed in December – the first time that has happened in France since 1962.
The political fallout has been considerable. France failed to approve a budget for 2025 before the end-of-year deadline, and Macron named his fourth prime minister this year – centrist veteran François Bayrou – in December.
Macron seeks allies to rebuild government after historic collapse
Consulting the people
Macron also opened the door to using referendums in 2025. While he didn't use the word "referendum", he said he would ask the French to decide on "decisive" issues, without elaborating which ones.
"I want us to act with 2050 in our sights. We will have choices to make, for our economy, our democracy, our security, our children," he said.
The French constitution grants powers to the president to initiate referendums.
France's Macron mulls using referendums to break political deadlock
Macron has also used "citizen conventions"– gatherings of randomly picked citizens without any binding power – in the past to quell revolts such as the Yellow Vest protests and on issues such as climate and euthanasia
On international issues, where he retains wide diplomatic and military powers, Macron said the European Union should stop being "naive" when it comes to international trade, as the bloc faces threats of tariffs by US President-elect Donald Trump.
"We must say no to trade rules enacted by others and that we are the only ones to still comply with, say no to everything that makes us more dependent on others, without tradeoffs and without preparing the future," he said.
Europe has 'avoided bearing burden of its own security', says Macron
He also evoked war in Ukraine and the Middle East, and election manipulation in Georgia, Romania and Moldova, as proof that Europe should not take its security for granted.
"That's why Europe should stop delegating its security and defence to other powers," he said, urging EU partners, who often rely on the US security umbrella, to do more for their own defence.
(with newswires)
