PARIS - 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 pr.