Macron meets centrist Bayrou ahead of impending decision on France’s next Prime Minister

President Emmanuel Macron met centrist leader François Bayrou on Friday as speculation mounts about who he will choose as Prime Minister, in a bid to end months of political unrest.

It has been nine days since French lawmakers ousted Michel Barnier as prime minister in a vote of no confidence, and Mr Macron has said a replacement will be appointed later on Thursday.

Bayrou is considered by many as a potential successor. An ally of Macron, he is mayor of the Southwest region and leader of the centrist MoDem party.

French politics have been deadlocked since Mr. Macron called early parliamentary elections in the summer, and when he appoints a new prime minister, it will be his fourth election this year.

A BFMTV opinion poll on Thursday showed that 61% of French voters are worried about the political situation.

Macron cut short his trip to Poland on Thursday and was expected to name his new prime minister last night, but he then postponed his announcement until Friday morning.

Mr. Macron vowed to continue in office until his second term ends in 2027, despite the fall of Barnier last week.

If he chooses Bayrou, the challenge will become forming a government that won’t be overthrown the way Barnier’s did in Parliament.

It is expected that he will seek to bring centre-left parties into government or agree a pact to keep them from ousting the next prime minister.

Macron has held roundtable talks with the leaders of all the main political parties, except for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party. .

Among the other favorites to replace Michel Barnier, who has only been prime minister for three months, are Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu and former centre-left prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

French media quoted another potential candidate, former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, as saying he turned down the job because he was in his late 70s.

Former Brexit negotiator Barnier was ousted when Le Pen’s National Rally Party joined with left-wing MPs to reject Trump’s €60bn (£50bn) plan for tax cuts and spending increases. grandfather. He is looking to cut France’s budget deficit, which is expected to reach 6.1% of economic output (GDP) this year.

Under the political system of the French Fifth Republic, the president is elected for five years and then appoints a prime minister whose cabinet selection is then appointed by the president.

Unusually, President Macron called for early parliamentary elections in the summer after poor results in June’s EU elections. The results left France in a political deadlock, with three major political blocs including left, center and extreme right.

Ultimately, he chose Barnier to form a minority government that relied on Marine Le Pen’s National Rally for its survival. But now that that has collapsed, Macron is hoping to restore stability without depending on his party.

Three centre-left parties – the Socialist Party, the Green Party and the Communist Party – have broken ranks with the more radical left-wing LFI and have entered talks on forming a new government.

However, they have made it clear that they want to see a left-wing prime minister of their choice if they intend to join a broad-based government.

“I told you I wanted someone from the left and the Green Party and I think Mr. Bayrou is neither one nor the other,” Green Party leader Marine Tondelier told French television on Thursday, while at the same time adding that she did not understand how the centrists lost power in parliament. election could retain the prime minister’s position and maintain the same policies.

The relationship between the center-left and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical LFI appears to have frayed over the three parties’ decision to pursue negotiations with President Macron.

After the LFI leader urged his former allies to stay away from a coalition deal, the Socialist Party’s Olivier Faure told French television that “the more Mélenchon shouts, the less he is heard”.

Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen has called on her party’s incoming government to take into account her party’s policies by drawing up a budget that “does not cross each party’s red lines”.

Michel Barnier’s caretaker government has introduced a bill that would allow provisions from the 2024 budget to continue into next year. However, the replacement budget for 2025 will have to be approved once the next government takes office.