By AFP News
President Emmanuel Macron has named centrist leader Francois Bayrou as prime minister, handing him the daunting task of hauling France out of months of political crisis.
Bayrou, the 73-year-old head of the MoDem group which is allied to Macron’s party, was appointed nine days after parliament ousted Michel Barnier’s government in a historic no-confidence vote following a standoff over an austerity budget.
“The President of the Republic has appointed Mr. Francois Bayrou as prime minister and tasked him with forming a government,” the French presidency said.
Bayrou’s appointment immediately sparked criticism, with the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party and the Greens threatening to back a new motion of censure.
Bayrou is the sixth prime minister of Macron’s mandate after last week’s toppling of Barnier, who became France’s shortest-serving prime minister and lasted only three months.
He is also Macron’s fourth prime minister of 2024.
Bayrou now faces an immediate challenge in putting together a cabinet that can survive a no-confidence vote in a divided parliament and thrash out a 2025 budget in a bid to limit economic turmoil.
The announcement was made after Macron received Bayrou for nearly two hours of talks Friday. BFMTV reported the talks with Bayrou had been “tense”.
Barnier, 73, was expected to hand over power to his successor at a ceremony Friday afternoon.
A red carpet was rolled out and microphones installed in the courtyard of the Matignon, the seat of the French government.
The new cabinet is expected to be revealed at a later date.
Bayrou will be tasked with having dialogue with all political forces except the far-right National Rally (RN) and hard-left LFI parties “in order to find conditions for stability and action,” a member of Macron’s team said on Friday.
“François Bayrou’s name emerged in recent days as the most consensual.”
Both the RN and LFI parties had joined forces last week to topple Barnier’s government.
Macron has been confronted with the complex political equation that emerged from snap parliamentary elections this summer — how to secure a government against a no-confidence vote in a bitterly divided lower house where no party or alliance has a majority.
