After weeks of uncertainty and turbulence, France has a new prime minister. French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Francois Bayrou as prime minister and tasked him with forming the new government, a statement from the Elysée said. Macron then appointed the centrist Bayrou, leader of the MoDem (Moderate Democrats), after long consultations to find a successor to Michel Barnier, who was disqualified by deputies last week. The new prime minister will have the difficult task of forming a government capable of surviving a National Assembly without a majority and of having the budget for 2025 adopted.
Who is Francois Bayrou, the new prime minister of France
Bayrou, 73, is the leader of the centrist MoDem party. In his political career he boasts a position as former education minister and mayor of the southwestern city of Pau and, since Macron came to power in 2017, he has become an ally and close confidant of the head of the Elysée.
His stature as a national politician came when he was appointed Minister of National Education and Minister of Higher Education from 1995 to 1997, becoming the youngest holder of the ministry at the age of 41. He was then entrusted with the reins of the Union for French Democracy and became a European deputy in 1999. However, he did not abandon the national political scene: he ran in the presidential elections in 2002, and in those of 2007. He came in third placed with 18.5 percent of the votes, behind Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal, refusing to vote for Sarkozy in the second round.
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In 2007, Bayrou founded the MoDem (Moderate Democrats) party, but has since faced numerous defections from his former friends. Combative, Bayrou ran for the Elysée for the third time in 2012. Since 2014 he has been mayor of Pau.
On 17 May 2017, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron – to whom he gave his support – appointed him Minister of Justice, but on 21 June 2017 he announced his resignation from the government due to a legal matter that involved him for the positions of fictitious jobs of his party’s MEPs.
Only recently, on February 5, 2024, Bayrou was cleared by the courts with the benefit of the doubt.
The challenges of the new prime minister
Bayrou is the fourth French prime minister to succeed himself this year, thanks to the political chaos that is affecting France. Barnier’s government was ousted last week after just three months in office and now Macron wants to avoid a new government facing the same fate.
Since Macron called an early vote in June, after the European elections, the French parliament has been divided between three groups without an absolute majority. The left-wing alliance obtained the most votes but did not reach an absolute majority, Macron’s centrist grouping suffered losses but is still standing, while the far-right Rassemblement National gained seats but was held back by power from the tactical vote of the left and center.
The opposition’s criticism of Macron
When Bayrou’s name began to circulate, controversies broke out within the French left, which sees in the choice of the 73-year-old centrist politician a “continuity” of Macron’s government and therefore not in line with the result of the early elections in which the The left-wing alliance obtained the largest number of votes, although it did not reach a majority. The radical left of the Insoumis (LFI) is on a war footing, having announced a motion of no confidence against the new prime minister, contesting President Macron’s choice. “Another candidacy for the extension of Emmanuel Macron. Two clear choices are available to the country: the continuity of the policy of misfortune with Francois Bayrou or the rupture,” said Mathilde Panot of Lfi. In a message published on
Macron welcomes Barnier’s resignation: the possibility of Bayrou being the new prime minister
The far right of the Rassemblement National, however, is more wait-and-see: “There will be no a priori censorship” on the new prime minister appointed. This was the reaction of the far-right leader Jordan Bardella, shortly after the nomination of the centrist Bayrou in Matignon. “Our red lines remain, they will not change”, added the president of the Rassemblement National (RN), citing, regarding the 2025 budget, the reimbursement of medicines, the non-weakening of the economic and social situation. At the same time, Bardella issued a harsh criticism of Macron, calling him a “bunker president who has chosen a new prime minister who must take the new political situation into account”.
