France's Macron continues meetings amid prime minister search

PARIS (Reuters) -Emmanuel Macron will meet his predecessors and two senior politicians tipped as candidates to become the next prime minister on Monday as the French president is close to announcing a new government leader, sources and media said.

Macron will receive former presidents, socialist Francois Hollande and right-wing Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as Bernard Cazeneuve, a former member of the Socialist party and an experienced politician, sources close to Macron said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Macron has been under pressure to end weeks of political deadlock after he called a snap election that delivered an unwieldy hung parliament.

Cazeneuve has been increasingly mentioned by politicians and observers as one of the most likely candidates to lead a new government as he is respected by right-wing parties, although he is also close to the left.

He abandoned the Socialist party two years ago to protest against its tightening links with far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.

Macron is also due to meet Xavier Bertrand, a member of the conservative party Les Republicains and president of the Hauts-de-France region, also cited as a potential future prime minister although less frequently than Cazeneuve, French newspapers Le Figaro and Le Parisien said.

France's next prime minister will have the daunting task of trying to drive reforms and the 2025 budget through a hung parliament, as France is under pressure from the European Commission and bond markets to reduce its deficit.

As well as a brief stint as prime minister at the end of Hollande's term, Cazeneuve was a minister three times - for European Affairs, Budget and Interior.

Macron's gamble to call the snap parliamentary election in June backfired, with his centrist coalition losing dozens of seats and no party winning an absolute majority.

The left's New Popular Front alliance came first but Macron ruled out asking it to form a government after other parties said they would immediately vote it down. Instead, he waited weeks to make his choice.

Even if the political paralysis continued after the appointment of a new government, Macron could not call a new snap election until July next year under the French constitution.

(Reporting by Elizabeth PineauWriting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Ingrid Melander; editing by Barbara Lewis and Marguerita Choy)