Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron Friday named centrist ally Francois Bayrou as Prime Minister in an effort to address the country’s deep political crisis, after a historic parliamentary vote ousted the previous government last week.
Bayrou, 73, a crucial partner in Macron’s centrist alliance, has been a well-known figure in French politics for decades. His political experience is seen as key in efforts to restore stability as no single party holds a majority at the National Assembly.
Macron’s office said in a statement that Bayrou “has been charged with forming a new government.”
Former Prime Minister Michel Barnier resigned last week following a no-confidence vote prompted by budget disputes in the National Assembly, leaving France without a functioning government. Macron in an address to the nation vowed to remain in office until his term ends in 2027.
Bayrou is expected to hold talks with political leaders from various parties in the coming days in order to choose new ministers.
The task appears challenging because Macron’s centrist alliance does not have a majority in parliament and Bayrou’s Cabinet will need to rely on moderate lawmakers from both the left and right to be able to stay in power.
Some conservatives are expected to be part of the new government.
Macron’s strategy aims at preventing far-right leader Marine Le Pen from holding “make or break” power over the government. Le Pen helped oust Barnier by joining her National Rally party’s forces to the left to pass the no-confidence motion last week.
The president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, said Friday his party will take a wait-and-see approach for now. “Our red lines are still there, they’re not going to change,” he warned.
National Rally officials, including Le Pen, have said they want any new budget law to preserve the purchasing power of the French people.
Bayrou’s appointment comes also in line with Macron’s efforts to build a non-aggression pact with the Socialists so that they commit not to vote against the government in any future confidence motion.
Mathilde Panot, head of the hard-left France Unbowed group at the National Assembly, criticised Bayrou’s appointment in a message on X as “the continuity of (Macron’s) bad policies.” She said her party is ready to vote for a no-confidence motion again against the new government.
Bayrou leads the centrist Democratic Movement, known as MoDem, which he founded in 2007.
In 2017, he supported Macron’s first presidential bid and became a weighty partner in the French president’s centrist alliance.
At the time, he was appointed justice minister, but he quickly resigned from the government amid an investigation into the MoDem’s alleged embezzlement of European Parliament funds.
Bayrou this year was cleared in the case by a Paris court, which found eight other party officials guilty and sentenced the party to pay a fine.
Bayrou became well known to the French public when he was education minister from 1993 to 1997 in a conservative government.
AP