France's Macron returns to square one as government formation talks drag on Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) – France's Socialists and Greens will not take part in ongoing talks with President Emmanuel Macron to find a way out of the country's political crisis, their leaders said on Tuesday, calling on their supporters to hold peaceful protests instead.

Macron called a possible left-wing door on Monday, saying he would be immediately removed from power by the majority of lawmakers from other camps, then called another marathon conference with party leaders on Tuesday.

But faced with a hung parliament in which each of the three roughly equal parties – the left, Macron's centrist bloc and the far right – have ruled out forming a coalition, the president appeared to be back to square one.

“This election is being stolen from us,” Green Party chief Marine Tondelier told local radio.

“We will not continue with these fake negotiations with a president who does not listen … and who is obsessed with control. He is not looking for a solution, he is trying to block it,” Tondelier said.

Socialist party president Olivier Faure told France 2 television that he would not engage in what he called “the game of democracy” now that the prospect of a left-led government is off the table.

The New Popular Front (NFP), a coalition of parties ranging from the centrist Socialists and Greens to the eurosceptic France Unbowed (LFI) won more votes than any other party in snap parliamentary elections this summer. That led its leaders to state that they want to form the next government.

However, their hopes of governing were dashed after weeks of conflict and negotiation when the political rivals made it clear that they would oppose any government of the left unless it severed ties with the LFI and its leader Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Macron, a pro-business economist, thinks the balance of power lies more in the center and right. But any such coalition would also need to drive a left-wing fringe to win support from its moderate factions, something conservative leaders have repeatedly said it won't.

“Their problem is not only France Unbowed (LFI), it is the left,” said Faure. “They can't accept a vote they don't win as winners.”