President Macron names a new government and assembles a team under Francois Bayrou, his fourth prime minister of the year.
France has presented one new governmentconsisting of former ministers and senior officials of this Prime Minister Francois Bayrou The hope is to oversee the passage of a 2025 budget and prevent a collapse that would deepen the country’s crisis.
Bayrou assembled the government on Monday, taking office after months of political deadlock and pressure from financial markets to reduce France’s mounting debt.
The names were read out by President Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff, Alexis Kohler.
Eric Lombard, 66, head of the Caisse des Depots, the French government’s investment arm, became finance minister and worked with Amelie de Montchalin as budget minister.
The conservative Bruno Retailleau remained interior minister. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu also remained in their positions.
Elisabeth Borne, who resigned as prime minister in January, became education minister, while former interior minister Gerard Darmanin will head the justice ministry.
Bayrou has been struggling for nearly 10 days to put together a government to fend off possible no-confidence votes from the far right and left. After parliamentary opposition to the proposed law, he must immediately start adopting a draft budget for 2025 led to the fall his predecessor, former Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
The inclusion of two former prime ministers shows Macron’s desire for a heavyweight government that has stability and does not share Barnier’s fate.
The 73-year-old Bayrou’s priority is to ensure his government survives a vote of no confidence and passes a cost-cutting budget for 2025.
The announcement came as France marked a day of mourning for victims in the cyclone-hit Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, France’s poorest overseas territory.
Bayrou, the head of the centrist MoDem group allied with Macron’s party, was appointed on December 13. Many have already predicted that Bayrou will struggle to survive.
France has been at an impasse since Macron pushed for early elections earlier this year in the hope of strengthening his authority. The move backfired, with voters returning to a parliament divided between three rival blocs.
