French President Macron has named François Bayrou as the country's new Prime Minister. But it is far from certain that he will receive the necessary support in parliament.
After the fall of Michel Barnier's government, French President Emmanuel Macron appointed centrist François Bayrou as Prime Minister. His "Democratic Movement" party is a partner of Macron's party - "Renaissance". Bayrou himself is considered a long-time confidant of the president.
Conservatives in France value the 73-year-old Bayrou. However, the Greens and Socialists have repeatedly criticized him, because they believe that he will not only not bring a new beginning to France, but quite the opposite - he will continue the current policies.
A political veteran from the countryside
Bairoux is from the Pyrenees region and is a political veteran in France - a long-time mayor of the southwestern city of Pau, a member of the National Assembly and the European Parliament, and a former minister of education and justice. Bayroux has unsuccessfully run for president three times - most recently in 2012. In the 2007 elections, he came third with 19 percent support.
Bairoux is one of the few French politicians who did not graduate from one of the elite Parisian schools. The candidate for Prime Minister of France was born into a family of farmers in the foothills of the Pyrenees. He married at the age of 20, and he and his wife raised six children. Bayrou speaks the Béarn dialect spoken in his native region and has always paid due attention to the regional languages of France.
How Macron intends to proceed
It is unclear whether Bayrou will be able to form a governing majority. The Socialists have shown before that they have no problem tolerating a centrist government. However, it is not at all clear whether Bayrou will receive support from the left-wing parties in the French parliament, especially considering that he was directly rejected by them as an option for prime minister. Bayrou admits that winning this support will not be an easy task: "Everyone knows how difficult this will be. Everyone knows that we have to find a way to unite, not divide".
Macron is also under pressure to form a government, and he took a risky move by nominating Bayrou. Because of the political crisis, some of the president's opponents have even called for him to resign. Macron's term ends in 2027. This is his second term and he cannot run again. Right-wing nationalists, led by Marine Le Pen, hope to replace the liberals in power.
The government should not rely on Le Pen
Neither the left-wing parties, nor the centrists around Macron, nor the right-wing nationalists and their supporters have a majority in the National Assembly. Conservatives and some left-wing parties are expected to agree to Macron's choice. But unless they form a broad coalition, the new government will not have a majority of its own and will remain unstable.
Apart from a minimum degree of stability, the agreement between the parties is mainly intended to ensure that the new government will not depend on Le Pen's right-wing nationalists, as was the case with the previous minority government of Barnier. It lasted just under three months before the opposition ousted it.
The biggest case: France's budget
If elected, Bayrou would be France's fourth prime minister this year. Macron quickly made the decision to nominate him - just a week after the fall of Barnier's government. The reason is that the president is trying to prevent a further deepening of the political and economic crisis.
The country needs to save, as France's debts are very high. However, Barnier's government has failed to push through the austerity budget planned for next year. That is why the new prime minister's priority should be precisely the adoption of the budget. First of all, an emergency law must be passed to extend the 2024 budget, after which the 2025 budget can be adopted by parliament early next year.