French President Emmanuel Macron today appointed the former representative of EU in post-Brexit negotiations Michel Barnier for the country's new prime minister after weeks of negotiations that followed early elections in which there was no clear winner, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Seventy-three-year-old Barnier represented the EU in negotiations with Britain over its exit from the union from 2016 to 2021. Before that, the conservative politician was part of several French governments and also held the position of European Commissioner.
In recent weeks, Macron has considered a number of potential options for the post of prime minister, but none has gathered enough support to ensure a stable government and there is no guarantee that Barnier's government will be able to push reforms through a deadlocked parliament.
/p>
The far-right National Assembly party, which has one of the largest parliamentary groups, made it clear earlier today that it would not immediately oppose Barnier if he met certain conditions.
Barnier is staunchly pro-European and a long-time moderate, but he hardened his stance significantly during an unsuccessful bid to become his conservative party's presidential candidate in 2021. He then declared that migration was out of control, a position shared by the "National Assembly".
The deputy from the "National Assembly" Sebastien Chenoux told BefM television that the far-right party will wait to see what Barnier has to say about immigration and about reforming the French electoral system.
Party lawmaker Laurent Jacobelli said one of the conditions was for parliament to be dissolved as soon as possible, which under French law could happen as early as next July.
"National Assembly" wants a prime minister who undertakes to dissolve the parliament as soon as possible and to introduce the proportional principle (for parliamentary elections),'' Jacobelli told TV channel TEF 1.
However, the far-right party is not particularly enthusiastic about the choice of Barnier, according to Reuters. "They pulled out of mothballs those who ruled France for 40 years,", Jacobelli pointed out.
The left alliance "New People's Front" He won the election in July, but Macron ruled out inviting him to form a government after other parties said they would immediately reject him.