(Bloomberg) -- President Emmanuel Macron sought to convince fellow NATO leaders in Washington this week that the political turmoil in France wouldn’t affect his ability to support the military alliance’s goals, particularly when it comes to Ukraine.
In conversations with other leaders at NATO’s annual summit, Macron tried to allay worries about the snap election less than a week ago that has left France without a clear path to form a stable government, according to an official familiar with the talks. He made the same case during a speech to the Atlantic Council on Wednesday.
Macron abruptly dissolved France’s lower house a month ago, after the far right trounced his party in a European Parliament vote. While the anti-immigrant National Rally party fell short of winning Sunday’s domestic election, Macron’s centrist alliance lost seats in the National Assembly, meaning he’ll need to cobble together a weak coalition government.
On the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting, Macron had a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who gave the French president advice on how to build an alliance of parties, said another person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. While this type of government is rare in France, Scholz has overseen a fragile alliance in Berlin for about three years.
Scholz had previously expressed concern over Macron’s decision to dissolve the French parliament and he said he was relieved when the far right didn’t win as expected. He told reporters in Washington on Thursday that “France has a strong president.”
Behind a closed-door meeting with other leaders, Macron said that French voters clearly rejected parties that may have threatened France’s support for Ukraine, one of the people said. He’s been one of the most outspoken advocates for Kyiv, but rankled some allies after he proposed sending trainers to Ukraine — a move some argued would provoke the Kremlin.
French politicians from across the spectrum have criticized Macron’s Ukraine strategy, and the far-right party of Marine Le Pen, the National Rally, has historical ties with Russia.
“We will continue to support it for as long as necessary,” Macron told reporters on Thursday, referring to Ukraine. “It’s in this spirit that important decisions have also been taken here in Washington to anchor our support in the long term and move toward Ukraine’s accession to NATO.”
The French president also discussed domestic politics with the new prime minister of the UK, Keir Starmer, and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, the person said.
France’s two-round legislative election left a complex split in the lower house, triggering intense horse-trading between parties to try and form a government that would be able to survive a no-confidence vote. A left-wing coalition that includes the Socialists and the far-left France Unbowed won the most votes on Sunday, putting them in a prime spot to lead the next administration.
But given the wide divide between the parties, there’s no clear way through the political impasse.
After days of silence, Macron finally weighed in with his first substantive statement on the deadlock. In a letter published in France’s regional press on Wednesday, he acknowledged that the vote had demonstrated “a clear demand for change and for power-sharing,” urging lawmakers “to build a broad-based partnership.”
“I call on all political forces that recognize themselves in republican institutions, the rule of law, parliamentarianism, a European orientation and the defense of French independence, to engage in sincere and loyal dialog to build a solid majority, necessarily diverse, for the country,” he said.
(Updates with Macron comment in the eighth paragraph.)
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