French president Emmanuel Macron has appointed his centrist ally Francois Bayrou as prime minister, following the recent collapse of the previous government led by conservative Michel Barnier after only three months.
France has been grappling with major political turmoil since snap elections called by Mr Macron earlier this year left the country with a hung parliament.
Last week parties on the left and the far right voted to bring down a minority government led by Mr Barnier, which faltered in trying to pass a controversial budget to rein in a huge spending deficit.
Talks had taken place between Mr Macron and several parties in the Elysee Palace in recent days, as he tried to settle on a prime minister who might have a chance of putting together a governing coalition.
Mr Bayrou (73) founded the Democratic Movement (MoDem) party, which is one of the groups allied to the president’s Renaissance camp. The veteran centrist previously ran for president three times, but in 2017 supported Mr Macron, when he was first elected president.
The short-lived government led by Mr Barnier, a former French commissioner and the EU’s Brexit negotiator, had been relying on the tacit support of Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally to survive. Despite a number of concessions by Mr Barnier, Ms Le Pen did not back the former government’s budget, which had sought to find €60 billion in savings.
Following an attempt to use special constitutional powers to push through the budget without a majority, parliament backed a motion of no confidence in Mr Barnier, who then resigned.
The snap elections called by Mr Macron this summer saw left-wing parties unite under the New Popular Front banner, winning the most seats but falling far short of the 289 needed for a majority. The broad electoral pact ranged from France Unbowed, the radical party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to the communists, the Greens and the centre-left Socialist Party.
Mr Macron’s centrist camp came second in the election, losing a large number of seats in a result seen as a major blow to the president, while Ms Le Pen’s party came third.
Mr Barnier, a grandee of the small, centre-right party The Republicans, had governed with the support of Mr Macron’s centrists. Angry over the president’s decision to turn to the conservatives to form a government after the election, the leftwing New Popular Front bloc remained united in opposing Mr Barnier.
Mr Bayrou will likely try to win the support of more centre-left parties, such as the Socialist Party and possibly the Greens, breaking them from the New Popular Front.
The first hurdle of the new government will be to try to pass a budget, seen as crucial to shore up the confidence of the financial markets in France. In the interim emergency measures will allow for civil servant salaries and state pensions to be paid, avoiding a US-style federal government shutdown.
Other names who had been mentioned as possible contenders for the Matignon included the defence minister Sébastien Lecornu and Bernard Cazeneuve, who previously served as prime minister during the presidency of François Hollande.
The Elysee made the announcement on Friday, after Mr Macron cut short a trip to Poland yesterday to fly back to Paris, in the face of mounting political pressure over the government crisis.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
