Macron names Francois Bayrou as the new Prime Minister of France. Who are you? – Nationally
French President Emmanuel Macron named his key ally Francois Bayrou as his fourth prime minister in 2024 on Friday, but the scale of the challenge facing the veteran was quickly apparent as the Socialist Party refused to join his coalition government.
Bayrou, 73, provided a stern test of whether he can control the parliament that fired his predecessor, Michel Barnier, last week.
“It’s a long road, everyone knows that,” he told reporters. “I’m not the first to take the long road.”
Political instability in France has raised doubts about whether Macron will complete his second term as president until 2027.
It also raised France’s borrowing costs and left a power vacuum in the heart of Europe, just as Donald Trump heads to the White House and Germany prepares for new elections following the collapse of their ruling coalition.
Bayrou, founder of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) party that has been part of Macron’s ruling coalition since 2017, has run for president three times, leaning on his rural roots as mayor of the southwestern city of Pau.
His top priority will be passing special legislation to implement the 2024 budget, with a tough battle over the 2025 belt-tightening legislation coming early next year.
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Parliament’s backlash over the 2025 bill led to Barnier’s downfall and left-wing leaders announced on Friday that they may try to oust Bayrou if he uses special constitutional powers to use the budget against parliament.
Bayrou’s proximity to the unpopular Macron could also be at risk.
The Socialist Party, which Macron mistreated during his search for prime minister, accused the president of ignoring their demands for a left-wing leader in favor of the “dangerous” Macronista.
“This way we will not enter the government and remain in the opposition,” said Boris Vallaud, the leader of the Socialists parliamentary group.
The reaction to Bayrou’s nomination from the left will worry Macron, and the prime minister is likely to live day to day, at the mercy of the president’s opponents, for the foreseeable future.
Macron will hope Bayrou can stave off no-confidence votes until at least July, when France will be able to hold new parliamentary elections.
Leaders of the French leftist group Unbowed said they would want to remove Bayrou immediately, while leaders of other leftist groups took a different approach.
The leader of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, also said that he will support the motion of no confidence if the prime minister ignores their tax and pension complaints.
Communist leader Fabien Roussel said his party will open fire against Bayrou and decide case by case if he promises that he will not be punished by the law.
Jordani Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally (RN), said he would not want a motion of no confidence to be tabled, while RN leader Marine Le Pen said Bayrou must listen to the opposition’s budget wishes.
The real test over the 2025 budget is close
Barnier’s budget bill, aimed at saving 60 billion euros ($63 billion) to ease investors worried about France’s 6% deficit, was seen as too harsh by the far right and left. The government’s failure to find a way out of the crisis has seen France’s borrowing costs rise.
XTB Research Director Kathleen Brooks said Bayrou’s appointment was unlikely to have a major impact on French bonds. However, he said the CAC 40 French stock index .FCHI is underperforming German stocks at three-decade highs.
“With France still plagued by political turmoil, narrowing this gap is an uphill struggle, even with a new Prime Minister,” he wrote.
Macron appointed Bayrou as justice minister in 2017 but resigned a few weeks later amid an investigation into his party’s alleged hiring of parliamentary aides. He came out on top in fraud cases this year.
-Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; additional reporting by Michel Rose and Elizabeth Pineau; writing by Gabriel Stargardter; editing by Richard Lough, Angus MacSwan and Ros Russell
