President Emmanuel Macron on Friday named Francois Bayrou as prime minister, handing him the uphill task of hauling France out of months of political crisis.
Bayrou, 73, is the leader of the MoDem group, which is affiliated with Macron’s party. He was chosen nine days after Michel Barnier’s administration was expelled by parliament in a historic no-confidence vote over an austerity budget.
“The President of the Republic has appointed Mr. Francois Bayrou as prime minister and tasked him with forming a government,” the French presidency said in a statement, giving no more details.
Bayrou is Macron’s sixth prime minister, following the removal of Barnier last week, who became France’s shortest-serving prime minister, serving just three months.
He is also Macron’s fourth prime minister in 2024. Bayrou now confronts an urgent challenge in assembling a cabinet that can withstand a no-confidence vote in a deeply split parliament while also negotiating a 2025 budget to prevent economic instability.
Macron made the statement after meeting with Bayrou for nearly two hours on Friday.
According to BFMTV, the conversations with Bayrou were “tense.”.
Barnier, 73, was set to hand over control to his successor in a ceremony late Friday morning, according to cabinet sources.
Prior to the ceremony, a red carpet was laid out and microphones were set in the courtyard of the Matignon, the French government’s seat.
The new cabinet is set to be revealed at a later date. Macron has been presented with the complex political equation that resulted from unexpected parliamentary elections this summer: how to protect a government from a no-confidence vote in a deeply split lower chamber where no party or alliance has a majority.
The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP), formed to prevent the far-right from gaining power, emerged as the largest group in the National Assembly following the summer elections.
Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader who emerged as kingmaker during the summer elections and helped bring down the government, has not taken part in the most recent negotiations.
Macron was expected to reveal Barnier’s successor in a national address last week, after the extreme left and far right joined forces to destabilise the prime minister’s administration.
However, as a reminder of the stalemate, Macron did not select Barnier’s successor at the time and missed a 48-hour deadline set at a party leaders conference on Tuesday.
An advisor to Macron indicated Thursday that the statement announcing the prime minister would be released Friday morning.
Bayrou’s candidacy has sparked outrage on the left, which is apprehensive of continuing the president’s policies, and on the right, where he is despised by prominent former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
In addition to Bayrou, former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a Macron supporter, and former Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian were among the candidates for prime minister.
Le Drian said on Thursday that he had declined the post.
“I turned it down,” he told Le Penthievre, a regional weekly. “In two and a half years, I’ll be 80; it wouldn’t be serious.”
Opinion surveys show that the public is fed up with the issue, with slightly more than two-thirds of respondents to an Elabe poll published on Wednesday indicating they want MPs to find an agreement rather than overthrow a new administration.
Under Macron, each prime minister has lasted progressively less time in office, and there is no certainty that the new premier would break this trend.
In an IFOP poll, Le Pen was given 35% support in the first round of a prospective presidential election, far ahead of any potential opponent.
On March 31, 2025, Le Pen will face a verdict in an embezzlement trial on charges she rejects.
If convicted, she may be barred from running in the 2027 elections, which would be her best chance of gaining the Elysee Palace to date.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
