French PM officially resigns but remains in caretaker role ahead of Paris Olympics

French President Emmanuel Macron accepted his prime minister's resignation on Tuesday, but kept him on as head of a caretaker government.

Gabriel Attal had handed in his resignation following their centrist party's defeat in the French parliamentary elections earlier this month.

The move to a caretaker government comes as France prepares to host the Paris Olympics, which start in 10 days' time.

President Macron's office said in a statement that Attal would remain in place "to handle current affairs until a new government is being appointed."

The caretaker government led by Attal will focus only on handling day-to-day affairs.

The left-wing alliance that won the July 7 election has so far been unable to agree on a potential candidate to replace the prime minister.

French politics have been on the brink of paralysis since the elections resulted in a split among three major political groupings: the New Popular Front leftist coalition, Macron's centrist allies, and Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally.

The New Popular Front won the most seats, but fell short of the outright majority needed to govern.

The leftist coalition's three main parties, the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists and the Greens are locked into a harsh dispute over who to choose as the new prime minister.

France Unbowed suspended the coalition's talks on Monday, accusing the Socialists of sabotaging candidacies they had put forward to replace Attal.

The caretaker government is expected to stay in place at least until the end of the Olympics, but there is no firm timeline for when a new prime minister must be named.

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