PARIS: French centrist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and his government resigned on Tuesday, but will stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is appointed following an inconclusive snap election .

The caretaker government will run current affairs in the euro zone’s second-largest economy, but cannot submit new laws to parliament or make any major changes, experts say.

Its role will include making sure that the Olympics, that start on July 26, run smoothly.

“Handling current affairs means implementing measures already decided and managing emergencies that arise. No more no less,” said Mathieu Disant, a law professor at Paris’ Panthéon-Sorbonne university.

“An outgoing government is deprived of its full powers. This completely - and quite logically - deprives it of any margin for political action.” There have been caretaker governments before in France, but none has ever stayed on for more than a few days. There is no set limit to how long an acting government can stay on. Parliament cannot force it to quit.

Strict rules on the separation of powers do not usually allow ministers in France to be lawmakers simultaneously.

But their resignations, even if they stay on in a caretaker capacity, will allow Attal and other members of the government to sit in parliament and take part in the election of the assembly’s president when it convenes on Thursday, experts say.