Macron appoints Michel Barnier as PM, but the crisis remains
Michel Barnier, 73, the former European Union commissioner and Brexit negotiator, a member of France’s conservative Les Républicains party, was on Thursday appointed by President Emmanuel Macron as the country's new prime minister. The move came after several days of discussions between Macron and the conservatives and the far-right, and two months after snap parliamentary elections produced a hung parliament, but in which the leftwing coalition, the Nouveau Front Populaire emerged as the largest single political force. Barnier’s appointment is a snub to the message of the urns, writes Mediapart political correspondent Ellen Salvi, and does nothing to resolve a situation which the French president is solely responsible for.
AfterAfter days of secret talks and speculation, and two months after legislative elections which left a hung parliament and his former government in a caretaker role, Emmanuel Macron on Thursday finally announced his choice of Michel Barnier as France’s new prime minister.
