PARIS, Aug 12 (Reuters) - The Paris Olympics delivered a
dazzling summertime success that charmed the world and reaffirmed French
national pride. The hangover will be tough.
With Sunday's closing ceremony drawing a line under the
sporting spectacle, President Emmanuel Macron must now deal with a self-created
political crisis that he swept under the carpet until the Games were over.
Talks over government jobs and budget cuts loom - with voter
anger sure to follow.
"Now we have to wake up from this beautiful
dream," said Christine Frant, 64, at the Club France fan zone last
weekend. "Such a shame we're going to return to our day-to-day routine,
with no government, squabbles in parliament, while here it was all about joy,
sharing."
Macron seemed to cast the entire fate of the Olympics into
doubt when he called a snap legislative election just weeks before the Games
were due to begin. Voters delivered a hung parliament.
Choosing a prime minister who can appease Macron's centrist
camp, a leftist alliance and the far-right National Rally has proven tricky.
After days of political dealmaking that went nowhere after
the July 7 vote, Macron declared a political truce for the duration of the
Games, giving himself until around mid-August to name a prime minister and let
political parties negotiate.
The mysterious sabotage on railway and telecoms targets at
the start of the Games seemed like an ominous portent, but after that, the
event carried on with no further security scares.
Macron decamped to his presidential retreat on the French
Riviera, with a few incursions into Paris, including for a long hug with French
judo titan Teddy Riner after he clinched his fourth career gold.
While many in France followed the tribulations of the
Lebruns, two ping-pong-playing brothers, or cheered on star swimmer Leon
Marchand, French politicians have been plotting a way out of the crisis.
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