French President Emmanuel Macron has officially accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal – but the same cabinet will stay on to govern in a caretaker capacity. With such arrangements rare in France, what does it mean for the running of the country?
Macron accepted Attal's resignation after meeting the PM on Tuesday, the presidential office announced that evening.
Attal will head a government with restricted powers until a new premier is named.
The largest bloc in parliament, the left-wing New Popular Front, has so far failed to put forward a candidate for prime minister that all its members agree on.
Neither they nor any other group have a majority after snap legislative elections earlier this month.
How did France get here?
The government's departure became inevitable after the elections Macron called early left his party and its allies without enough seats in parliament to lead the country on their own.
Attal tendered his resignation the day after the final results were announced, at the beginning of last week, but the president asked him to stay on "for the time being" while negotiations over a new government proceeded.
With talks still in deadlock and the deadline for the new parliament to hold its first session fast approaching, the members of the cabinet who are also elected MPs needed to be formally released from their duties in order to participate in the various votes required to fill key parliamentary positions.
Those votes begin on Thursday, 18 July.
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To free up ministers to sit in parliament – something French laws on the separation of powers don't usually allow – Macron opted to accept Attal's resignation and effectively end his cabinet's mandate too.
But France still needs governing – not least with the Paris Olympics starting in 10 days.
Attal et al will therefore remain in place as caretakers.
What is a caretaker government?
Such administrations are known in French as "resigning governments" or "governments of day-to-day affairs".
Without a mandate to run the country, their role is to provide a minimum level of governance and deal with any emergencies that may arise.
"A resigning minister is no longer really a minister, they just act as one," public law expert Benjamin Morel told Le Monde.
"They can't do whatever they want, there are limits to their powers."
What can it do?
Those limits aren't clearly defined in French law. And since caretaker governments have been rare – and brief – in modern France, there isn't much precedent to go on either.
The general principle is that a caretaker government shouldn't introduce new bills or take any lasting decisions – nothing that permanently changes laws, services or rights.
Convention even has it that a temporary cabinet doesn't hold meetings, according to Morel, since it isn't its role to set policy.
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Instead it should handle the administration of existing policy, for instance issuing decrees to allow legislation already approved by the last parliament to take effect.
That changes in the event of an emergency, however. If there's a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other urgent matter of national importance, a caretaker government has full powers to act, including declaring a state of emergency.
If MPs object to its actions, they don't have many options: they aren't able to call a vote of no confidence and topple it, as they can with a regular government.
However, the Council of State – the advisory body responsible for examining the legality of government acts – can challenge it if it believes it has overstepped its bounds.
How long will it stay in place?
France's laws don't set a deadline for choosing a new prime minister or forming a government.
On the few occasions in recent history the situation has arisen before, caretaker arrangements have stayed in place less than 10 days before a permanent solution was found.
But with parliament split three ways, no working majority in sight and negotiations between political factions still ongoing, the caretaker government could be leading France for some time.
"That poses a real democratic problem," said Morel.
"We're entering into a form of political uncertainty, because in general a government like this is only supposed to last a few days, a few weeks at most."
