Macron nominates Francois Bayrou as new French prime minister

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron has nominated Francois Bayrou as France's new prime minister, the Elysee announced in a news release on Friday.

"The President of the Republic has nominated Mr Francois Bayrou as prime minister and tasked him with forming a government," Macron's office said.

Bayrou, a centrist ally of Macron, succeeds Michel Barnier who was ousted in a no-confidence vote.

The French National Assembly voted on Dec 4 in favor of the no-confidence motion, compelling Barnier to resign and causing the government to collapse. Barnier's government became the first to fall to a no-confidence vote since 1962.

Bayrou, 73, a crucial partner in Macron's centrist alliance, has been a well-known figure in French politics for decades. His political experience is seen as key in efforts to restore stability as no single party holds a majority at the National Assembly.

Bayrou, the founder of the Democratic Movement, or MoDem, party, has himself run for president three times, leaning on his rural roots as the longtime mayor of the southwestern town of Pau.

The announcement was made after Macron received Bayrou for nearly two hours of talks on Friday. BFMTV reported the talks with Bayrou had been "tense".

He is expected to put forward his list of ministers in the coming days but will likely face the same existential difficulties as Barnier in steering legislation through a hung parliament comprising three warring blocs.

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.

Macron spent the days after Barnier's exit speaking to leaders from the conservatives to the Communists, seeking to lock in support for Bayrou. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally and the hard-left France Unbowed were excluded.

After the announcement, Jordan Bardella, the leader of the National Rally, said his party had no immediate plans to censure the new prime minister, adding that the latter should dialogue with other political parties.

"There will be no censorship in principle," Bardella said. "This new prime minister must understand that he has no majority in parliament… our red lines remain," he added.

The hard-left party La France insoumise has announced a plan to launch a no-confidence vote to bring down Bayrou. The party repeatedly said that the position of prime minister should be given to someone from the left-wing parties who won the most seats in the snap legislative elections this year.

Agencies - Xinhua