French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed François Bayrou, a veteran politician and author of numerous history books, as Prime Minister. Bayrou is a Macron supporter and the leader of the centrist Democratic Movement party.
Macron announced the appointment of a new Prime Minister after consultations with representatives of political forces. On December 4, parliament voted for a vote of no confidence in the previous government of Michel Barnier, and it was forced to resign after less than three months in office.
It is still unclear whether the new Prime Minister will be able to secure the trust of MPs. Early elections held in the summer resulted in no party having a clear majority.
The first task of the new Prime Minister will be to secure approval of the 2025 budget from the deeply divided National Assembly.
According to the French press, it will be extremely difficult for the new government to balance between the right and the left, and it is not a fact that under such conditions it will be able to stay afloat for long.
Barnier’s government lasted as long as the third-largest far-right bloc in the National Assembly, led by Marine Le Pen, was prepared to abstain in a vote of no confidence. When Le Pen changed her position, the votes of her allies and the left bloc were more than enough to bring the government down.