Macron acknowledges error on early elections in New Year's speech

1/1/2025 6:22

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said he recognised that his decision to call early parliamentary elections in June had created more political instability in the country, in a rare moment of contrition.



The speech caps a tumultuous 2024 for Macron, who shocked the nation halfway through the year by calling early elections, a gamble that backfired when voters delivered a hung parliament with a big increase in far-right lawmakers, diluting 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 celebrations.



"The dissolution caused more divisions in the Assembly than solutions for the French people," he added, in the clearest mea culpa yet since the elections.



Macron had justified his decision to call early elections in the wake of a bad score at European elections by the need to "clarify" the political situation.