President Emmanuel Macron is set to appoint Francois Bayrou as France’s new Prime Minister, ending months of political turmoil and restoring stability after Michel Barnier’s ouster.
France: Macron Names Francois Bayrou as New Prime Minister
President Emmanuel Macron met centrist leader François Bayrou on Friday as speculation mounted over who he would choose as PM, in a bid to end months of political turmoil.
The Aftermath of Michel Barnier’s Ouster
It is now nine days since French MPs ousted Michel Barnier as prime minister in a no-confidence vote, and Macron had said a replacement would be appointed by the end of Thursday. However, as the hours passed by there was no confirmation that Bayrou was being given the job, even though the red carpet was laid out at the prime minister’s residence for the transfer of power.
French politics has been deadlocked ever since Macron called snap parliamentary elections during the summer, and when he does name a new prime minister, it will be his fourth this year. An opinion poll for BFMTV on Thursday suggested 61% of French voters were worried by the political situation. Far-left France Unbowed leader Manuel Bompard complained of a “pathetic spectacle.”
Macron’s Decision and the Potential Candidates
Macron cut short a trip to Poland on Thursday and had been expected to name his new prime minister last night, but he then postponed his announcement until Friday morning. He then met Bayrou, 73, at the Elysée Palace for about an hour and three-quarters in an encounter described as tense by French media.
Macron has vowed to remain in office until his second term ends in 2027, despite Barnier’s downfall last week. If he does pick Bayrou, who is leader of the centrist MoDem party, the challenge will then become forming a government that will not be brought down the way Barnier’s was in the National Assembly.
Macron’s Government-Shaping Plans
It is thought he will either seek to bring parties from the centre left into the government, or agree a pact so they do not oust the next prime minister as well. Macron has already held round-table talks with leaders from all the main political parties, bar the far-left France Unbowed of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen.
Among the other favourites to replace Michel Barnier, who lasted only three months as prime minister, were Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and centre-left ex-prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve. French media quoted another potential candidate, former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, as saying he had turned down the job because he was in his late 70s.
The Background of Macron’s Government Crisis
French government collapses in no-confidence vote
Under the political system of France’s Fifth Republic, the president is elected for five years and then appoints a prime minister whose choice of cabinet is then appointed by the president. Unusually, President Macron called snap elections for parliament over the summer after poor results in the EU elections in June.
The outcome left France in political stalemate, with three large political blocs made up of the left, centre and far right. Eventually he chose Barnier to form a minority government reliant on Marine Le Pen’s National Rally for its survival. But now that has fallen, Macron is hoping to restore stability without depending on her party.
The Centre Left’s Conditions
Three centre-left parties – the Socialists, Greens and Communists – have broken ranks with the more radical left LFI and have taken part in talks on forming a new government. However, they have made clear they want to see a leftist prime minister of their choice if they are going to join a broad-based government.
“I told you I wanted someone from the left and the Greens and I think Mr Bayrou isn’t one or the other,” Greens leader Marine Tondelier told French TV on Thursday, adding that she did not see how the centrist camp that lost parliamentary elections could hold the post of prime minister and maintain the same policies.
Relations between the centre left and the radical LFI of Jean-Luc Mélenchon appear to have broken down over the three parties’ decision to pursue talks with President Macron. Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen has called for her party’s policies on the cost of living to be taken into account by the incoming government, by building a budget that “doesn’t cross each party’s red lines.
