François Bayrou will have to navigate France’s choppy political waters amidst division and billions of euros in spending cuts and tax increases.
Centrist politician Francois Bayrou has been announced as France’s new prime minister.
On Dec. 5, French lawmakers from all sides of the political spectrum voted to remove conservative Michel Barnier from the powerful post, signaling deepening divisions within the French parliament.
On Friday, President Emmanuel Macron named François Bayrou—a French centrist and a longstanding ally—to the role of prime minister.
Macron has vowed to remain in the Elysee Palace for the duration of his term, which runs until mid-2027. Before then, he cannot be ousted by Parliament, although opposition on both his left and right flanks are already calling for his resignation.
Macron is being pulled in multiple directions, caught between a left-wing coalition that includes his own party, La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, the Ecologists, and the French Communist Party, and the right-wing National Rally.
Bayrou will have to navigate the uncertainty around the deeply divided parliament has also made it increasingly difficult for the government to pass the 2025 budget.
The country’s debt is projected to soar to above 3 trillion euros ($3.17 trillion) by 2025, with public debt hovering at around 110 percent of GDP.
Macron’s office said in a statement that Bayrou “has been charged with forming a new government.”
Bayrou is the founder of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) party which has been a part of Macron’s ruling alliance since 2017.
He has run for president three times and is the longtime mayor of the southwestern town of Pau.
Macron appointed Bayrou as justice minister in 2017 but resigned weeks later amid an investigation into his party’s alleged fraudulent employment of parliamentary assistants. He was cleared of fraud charges this year.
Jordan Bardella, the president of the right-wing populist National Rally party, said his party would not be calling for an immediate no-confidence motion against Bayrou.
Marine Le Pen, a leading figure in the National Rally and member of the French National Assembly,
said on X that Bayrou must do “what his predecessor did not want to do.”
He must “hear and listen to the opposition in order to construct a reasonable and thoughtful budget. Any other policy, merely extending Macronism—twice rejected at the ballot box—can only lead to impasse and failure,” she said.
However, one member of the left-wing New Popular Front alliance (NFP) has already suggested they will formally oppose the appointment of the new prime minister.
Eric Coquerel told BFM TV on Friday, “We are going to reprimand the new Prime Minister because he will continue to implement Mr. Macron’s economic policy, which is a minority in the country and therefore not legitimate.” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Friday
congratulated Francois Bayrou on his appointment.
“You have always had Europe at heart,” she said.
The left-wing coalition, which includes La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, the Ecologists, and the French Communist Party, was the result of a last-minute political alliance thrown together on June 10 following National Rally’s victory in the European Parliament elections.
Frank Furedi, executive director of MCC Brussels,
previously told The Epoch Times that France’s deeply divisive political landscape meant that “polarization” could intensify.
He also said that with France and Germany—the EU’s two largest economies—facing significant political crises and “living on borrowed money,” the EU’s weaknesses were being exposed.
“It exposes the internal weakness of this project, because actually, the EU and its project look much stronger than they really are,” he said.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
