The Guardian view on France’s political crisis: Barnier is not a real fix for Macron’s mess

Mr Macron worsened matters by rejecting Lucie Castets, the prime ministerial candidate of the leftwing New Popular Front alliance, which startled everyone by coming first in July. The left’s bickering and unwillingness to compromise hasn’t helped itself. It was also true that such a government had a minimal chance of survival. But the president should have allowed matters to take their course. Instead, he picked a prime minister whose fourth-placed Les Républicains party holds only 47 of 577 seats and which did not sacrifice candidates to see off Ms Le Pen’s National Rally, as the left and centre did.