French president Emmanuel Macron has named his ally Francois Bayrou as the new prime minister after Michel Barnier was ousted following a no-confidence vote by parliament prompted by budget disputes last week.
Macron’s choice came as pressure mounted to find a successor for Mr Barnier as he the president himself vowed to stay in office until the end of his term, due in 2027.
Mr Bayrou, a centrist like Mr Barnier, was one of several names circulating in French political circles and media, along with Republican Party defector Sebastian Lecornu, former Socialist Party senior figure Bernard Cazeneuve, and Xavier Bertrand, a former minister under the Sarkozy and Chirac governments.
The announcement comes two daysafter a spokesperson for the outgoing government said Mr Macron was seeking a political deal that would allow him to both name a new prime minister and “guarantee the stability of the country”.
Maud Bregeon, the spokesperson, said Macron insisted there was at the moment no “broader” political alliance than the current one between his centrist allies and conservatives from The Republicans party, which does not have a majority at parliament. She was relaying comments made by Macron during a weekly Cabinet meeting.
Ms Bregeon said on Wednesday two options were being considered. The first one would be to find a way to “broaden the alliance,” she said, implicitly suggesting some leftists could join the government in addition to centrists and conservatives. That could give the future government a majority in the assembly.
She said the other option would have been to make a deal with opposition parties on the left so that they commit not to vote any no-confidence motion — even though they would not be governing parties, Bregeon said.
It had been widely reported on Wednesday Mr Macron was aiming to choose a new prime minister as soon as possible after he said late last week that he would make the decision within a matter of days.
Since last week, Macron has held talks with politicians from the left and the right, including Socialist leaders who now appear as key in efforts to form a more stable government.
Discussions have not involved the far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen nor the hard-left France Unbowed party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon since Macron said he would only speak with more moderate political forces.
In a 10-minute address to the nation last week, Mr Macron accused the extreme left and right of thinking only about themselves, and not the voters, after voting to oust Mr Barnier, adding to earlier criticism that they were the “coalition of the irresponsible”.
The president said the parties had united in what he called “an anti-Republican front” and added: “I won’t shoulder other people’s irresponsibility”.
