President Emmanuel Macron on Friday named centrist leader Francois Bayrou as prime minister, handing him the daunting task of hauling France out of months of political crisis.
Bayrou, the 73-year-old head of the MoDem group which is allied to Macron’s party, was appointed nine days after Michel Barnier’s government was ousted by parliament in a historic no-confidence vote following a standoff over an austerity budget.
“The President of the Republic has appointed Mr. Francois Bayrou as prime minister and tasked him with forming a government,” the French presidency said in a statement, giving no more details.
Bayrou is the sixth prime minister of Macron’s mandate after last week’s toppling of Barnier, who became France’s shortest-serving prime minister and lasted only three months.
He is also Macron’s fourth prime minister of 2024.
Bayrou now faces an immediate challenge in putting together a cabinet that can survive a no-confidence vote in a deeply divided parliament and thrash out a 2025 budget in a bid to limit economic turmoil.
The announcement was made after Macron received Bayrou for nearly two hours of talks Friday. BFMTV reported the talks with Bayrou had been “tense”.
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