Shopping in a food market by the Place de la Bastille in Paris last week, the day after the French government collapsed, Anne Chapelon had no doubt on whom to pin the blame: not on Marine Le Pen’s populist right National Rally, which brought it down, but rather on Emmanuel Macron.
It was the president’s decision to call a snap election in June that had plunged the country into its current mess: with the parliament that emerged divided, finding a stable majority has proved elusive. Most French people appear to agree.
“It’s scary,” said Chapelon, 67, a retired nurse. “Having to choose a new prime minister now is madness. If Macron goes for the wrong one, then he will be the one who will have
