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.”

Mr. 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 Mr. 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, Mr. 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.

Mr. 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.

Now, Mr. Macron will need to make a decision.

DECISION TIME
He has ignored the candidate painstakingly agreed on by the left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front, which came on top in the elections but has so far made no overtures to other parties to garner a majority.

Despite efforts to bolster her profile with media interviews, the chosen candidate Lucie Castets remains a political unknown.

“Who is she?” said Zahera Dakkar, 40, after watching the volleyball final at Club France. “I haven’t followed politics for two weeks. The Games were an escape from all that.”

Ms. Castets’ hopes of the left taking Matignon, the prime minister’s official residence, appear slim. Mr. Macron believes the vote delivered a National Assembly whose “center of gravity is in the center or the center-right,” a source close to him said.

“We need a personality capable of talking to the center, the right and the left. From the socially-minded right to the left that care about law-and-order,” said the source, who declined to be named to discuss the president’s thinking.

Mr. Macron’s eventual pick cannot appear to be a flunky, the source added, with an oppositional figure needed to give the government a “flavor of cohabitation.”

Xavier Bertrand, a former conservative minister under ex-President Jacques Chirac who has had tough words against Mr. Macron but has collaborated constructively with his government in his northern region fiefdom, could be compatible, the source said.

Bernard Cazeneuve, a former prime minister under Socialist President Francois Hollande, who was in office at the time of the 2015 Islamist attacks in Paris, could also work, the source said. Both men’s offices did not return a request for comment.

BUDGET CHALLENGE
Whoever Mr. Macron names will face a tough job, with the parliamentary approval of the 2025 budget top of the in-tray at a time when France is under pressure from the European Commission and bond markets to reduce its deficit.

“If Macron tries to name a sort of rightist government, he will get no budget,” said Eric Coquerel, the leftist head of the finance committee in parliament.

Mr. Macron’s entourage is keen to use the Games, organized by a centrist president, a Socialist mayor and a conservative regional leader, as an example of what France can do when different sides come together.

His rivals want to make sure the president gets no credit, Senator Laure Darcos told Reuters.

Even if Mr. Macron’s domestic fortunes remain bleak, the Games have bolstered his international standing.

Michael Payne, a former IOC marketing chief, said the president is seen from abroad as “the leader who delivered,” but he believed Mr. Macron had made a major strategic mistake by calling the snap election before the Olympics rather than after.

At Club France, where families stood in line to take selfies with the Olympic torch or snapped up fluffy red mascots, it was hard to find anyone who wanted to talk politics.

“Please, no!” said Ms. Frant, a French flag around her neck. — Reuters

ZURICH — Youth unemployment worldwide last year dipped to a 15-year-low and is likely to continue falling through 2025, although weaker growth means Asia has lagged this trend, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a report published on Monday.

The ILO said 64.9 million people aged between 15 and 24 worldwide were unemployed last year, good for a rate of 13%, and it forecast that proportion would decrease further over the following two years to sit at 12.8% in 2024 and 2025.

The improvement in the market was driven by robust economic growth rates following the COVID-19 pandemic which has spurred demand for youth labor, the ILO said.

Youth unemployment rates in 2023 returned to their pre-pandemic rates or lower in most, but not all subregions.

For young people in the Arab States, East Asia, and South-East Asia and the Pacific, youth unemployment rates were higher last year than in 2019, the ILO said.

For the Arab States, this was a continuation of the pre-COVID-19 trend. But for the Asian subregions, it marked a change of direction from the stronger growth of the pre-COVID years.

The ILO also noted that the far lower average age of the population in Africa than in more developed nations has raised questions about economic sustainability there.

The imminent “youthquake” in Africa means job creation is becoming a critical issue for social justice and the future of the global economy, the organization said. — Reuters

JAKARTA — Indonesian President Joko Widodo held his first cabinet meeting in his planned new capital, Nusantara, on Monday, as the outgoing leader seeks to reassure investors his $32-billion mega-project remains on track before he steps down this October.

Years after announcing his flagship infrastructure project, intended to ease the burden on congested, sinking and overpopulated Jakarta, Nusantara has faced multiple problems, including construction delays and a lack of foreign investment.

Preparing to leave office after serving the maximum two terms, Jokowi, as the president is known, told his ministers the new capital marked a historic new chapter for the country.

“The new capital Nusantara is a canvas on which we can carve out the future. Not every country has the opportunity or ability to construct a new capital from zero,” he said, speaking from the eagle-shaped new state palace.

Nusantara is being built in a forested pocket on the island of Borneo, about 1,200 km (745 miles) from the current capital, Jakarta.

The location was strategic and would promote equal development across Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Jokowi said, adding that the country’s population and economic activity has long been dominated by the island of Java which accounts for 58% of gross domestic product.

Almost all 34 cabinet ministers attended Monday’s meeting, including defense minister and president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, who will be inaugurated on Oct. 20.

Live streamed from a room with metallic blue walls, the president and cabinet ministers discussed the development of Nusantara, and the transition to the next administration.

Jokowi said he is confident foreign investment will be forthcoming, and that incoming president Mr. Prabowo would remain committed to the project.

“At the very least, I’ll continue it, I’ll complete it if it’s possible,” Mr. Prabowo told reporters before the meeting.

“Although we are aware that new capital construction is not a quick job, it’s a long job, and a difficult one.” — Reuters