ADDS MORE DETAILS, REACTIONS FROM POLITICAL PARTIES
By Nur Asena Erturk
The French president on Friday named Francois Bayrou as the country’s new prime minister, the presidency said on X, over a week after parliament voted to oust Premier Michel Barnier and his government through a no-confidence vote.
Emmanuel Macron named a new premier in hopes of forming a new government and extricating the country from the political crisis it has been facing since June.
After days of talks with some political parties, Macron also held consultations early Friday morning, and met with Bayrou, 73, for nearly an hour and 45 minutes, sources told broadcaster BFMTV.
"The president named Mr. Francois Bayrou as prime minister, and tasked him to form a government," the presidency wrote on X.
The handover ceremony from Barnier, currently caretaker prime minister, is expected later in the day, BFMTV also said.
Lawmaker, and national coordinator of the left-wing party France Unbowed (La France Insoumise or LFI), Manuel Bompard wrote on X that this decision was a "V-sign" to French democracy, and announced that the LFI would submit a new no-confidence motion.
LFI's parliamentary group chief Mathilde Panot backed this stance and also wrote on X: "Two choices ahead for the lawmakers: Supporting Macron's rescue or no-confidence. We made ours."
President of the far-right party National Rally (RN) Jordan Bardella told media outlets, according to BFMTV, that "from a quick look," his party would not submit a no-confidence motion to topple the new government.
- Pending suspense for days
The president held a series of meetings with some political parties since then-three-month-old Premier Barnier was toppled. He excluded the far-right RN and the left-wing LFI from the talks.
The other left-wing parties that were invited to the Elysee presidential palace for discussions, called on Macron to name a premier from their wing based on the July election results.
The no-confidence vote on Dec. 4 came two days after Barnier used his discretionary powers to pass the much-debated social security budget bill without voting in parliament.
As the country is facing winter without a budget for 2025 since the whole bill was also canceled last week, a "special budget law" announced by Macron would be submitted to the parliament next week. The lawmakers are set to debate the "temporary" law on Dec. 16.
- Political instability haunts country since June
The country has been in political upheaval since June when Macron's centrist bloc failed and the far-right RN won the European Parliament elections.
In response, Macron called for two rounds of snap parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7, but no party won 289 seats, a threshold to achieve an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
The left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) won the most votes and seats in parliament in the second round and later insisted that the prime minister must be from the alliance, but it failed to nominate a consensus candidate for the position immediately.
After weeks of internal divisions, the NFP nominated Lucie Castets for prime minister on July 23.
However, Macron rejected a left-wing candidate and said he would not appoint a premier until mid-August after the Paris Olympics.
He faced criticism for delaying the process, fueling further instability after he accepted then-Premier Gabriel Attal's resignation on July 16 after initially rejecting it on July 8.
On Sept. 5, Macron finally appointed Barnier, a center-right politician, former European commissioner, and former foreign minister, as the prime minister.
Barnier's government has become the first one to collapse with a no-confidence vote since 1962.