Mr Macron seems to want to appoint a successor swiftly. He needs a new team in order to use special measures to roll over this year’s budget provisions, without inflation adjustments, into 2025. Various veteran centrists or conservatives could be stop-gap options.

France’s government fell after MPs voted to oust prime minister Michel Barnier’s administration and plunge the country into fresh political turmoil and without a budget.

A hard-left party has demanded the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron after the opposition brought down the government.