French President Emmanuel Macron said this Monday 12 August that the Olympic Games showed the world "the true face of France" as he praised the "success" of Paris 2024. Since these last days, he is famed for his enthusiastic hugging of sports stars, as the footballer Kylian Mbappe can attest. Macron walked on to the pitch, somewhat awkwardly pulled Mbappe to his chest and patted his head to console him after defeat to Argentina in the last World Cup.

Though at the Paris Olympics, Macron’s touchy-feely approach to the nation’s athletes has exceeded anything that had gone before.

With the Games just around the corner, the polls left France with three major blocs in parliament, the left as the largest followed by Macron's centrist forces and the far right, with none of them close to mustering the numbers for an overall majority.

"We don't want life to get back to normal," Macron said at a reception at the Elysee Palace. Many in France say that the success of the Olympic Games has surpassed expectations, with the Games lifting what was a morose mood in France amid political crisis.

Macron said many had the feeling that during the Games even "the air was lighter." France is bidding a reluctant farewell to a fortnight of the sporting extravaganza with most athletes, fans, and media praising the Olympic Games. Macron thanked all those who helped make the Olympics a success, saying that members of law enforcement had kept athletes and spectators safe.

"Hundreds of acts were prevented," said the French president. There were incidents over the last fortnight including an attack on the French railways but nothing that marred the event overall, to the relief of organisers.

A new political situation

The government of Macron allies, under Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, has carried on in a caretaker capacity throughout the Games, but five weeks after the elections, the country still does not have a new prime minister.

The number one priority for Macron will be naming, and winning approval for, a new prime minister and government, a process that appears to remain as blocked as it was before the Games. The left-wing New Popular Front, which emerged as the largest faction post-election, has said it wants the economist Lucie Castets to be the new premier.

Macron's forces have shown little interest in the idea, preferring an alliance with the traditional right, with the name of former Chirac-era minister and current head of the northern Hauts de France region, Xavier Bertrand, frequently cited as a candidate to lead a centre-focused coalition.

Outgoing equality minister Aurore Berge named Bertrand as a possible candidate alongside the likes of former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and Senate speaker Gerard Larcher, saying he had "solid experience of government, parliament and compromise".

Naming him would be an "aberration", objected Castets, while Greens leader Marine Tondelier accused Macron of exploiting the political "truce" he called for the Olympics. "This Olympic truce is not just because Emmanuel Macron is tired, it is because he wants time" and "to obstruct any attempt at political change," she said.