PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday (Sep 5) named the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as new prime minister, following almost two months of political deadlock after snap polls, the presidency said.
Barnier, 73, the oldest prime minister in the history of modern France, has been tasked with forming “a unifying government in the service of the country”, it said.
Since Wednesday, politicians and media in France had raised expectations that a new head of government would finally be announced to succeed Gabriel Attal, after the elections in July resulted in a hung parliament.
A left-wing coalition emerged as France’s biggest political force but with not enough seats for an overall majority. Macron’s centrist faction and the far right make up the two other major groups in the National Assembly.
Conservative ex-minister Xavier Bertrand and former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve had been seen as the initial favourites.
But both figures fell by the wayside with the mathematics of France’s new parliament stacked against them.
In France, the president names the prime minister, who can then be censured by parliament.
Both Bertrand and Cazeneuve risked facing a no-confidence motion that could garner support from both the left bloc and the far right.
Barnier, a right-winger and the European Union’s former negotiator on Brexit, was seen emerging from talks at the Elysee with Macron to make a return to frontline politics as prime minister.
He has been all but invisible in French political life since failing to win his Republicans (LR) party’s nomination to challenge Macron for the presidency in 2022.
The veteran former foreign minister and EU commissioner is “Macron-compatible” and would not be immediately voted out by parliament, an adviser to the president told AFP, asking not to be named.
A minister in the outgoing government, who also asked not to be named, said he was “very popular with right-wing members of parliament without being an irritant on the left”.
Source: CNA
