The French prime minister has announced his new government – the country’s fourth since the beginning of the year – in the hope his administration can see off another vote of no confidence from a bitterly divided parliament, reports The Guardian.
There is a mix of old and new in François Bayrou’s government, which includes several familiar faces: the former interior minister Gérald Darmanin has been appointed justice minister; the former prime minister Elisabeth Borne, a technocrat, returns to government as education secretary, while another former prime minister, Manuel Valls – who served under the socialist president François Hollande, has been appointed overseas minister.
Jean-Noël Barrot will remain as foreign secretary, while the right-winger Bruno Retailleau has been reappointed interior minister. Éric Lombard, a former banker, will head up the economy ministry while Sébatien Lecornu stays on in the defence ministry and Rachida Dati as the culture minister.
With many leading political figures looking forward to the 2027 presidential elections and reluctant to gamble their chances on a government that is likely to fall within weeks or be paralysed until a new general election can be held next summer, Bayrou – appointed by Emmanuel Macron 10 days ago – has struggled to find those willing to join his government.
The previous prime minister, Michel Barnier, lasted just 90 days before his administration was toppled by a vote of no confidence.
Bayrou, a centrist, had promised to form a “national interest government” across the middle political ground, excluding Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI). In the end, Bayrou’s administration, like Barnier’s before it, leant to the conservative right. Macron’s government lost its parliamentary majority after he called a snap election in June after the far right made historic gains in the European elections.
The move, however, backfired leaving the French Assemblée Nationale divided into three roughly equal groups – the left, centre and right – none of which has an absolute majority.
One of the government’s first tasks will be to draw up a 2025 budget bill and reduce France’s budget deficit, which is expected to reach 6% of gross domestic product by the end of the year, well above the 3% of GDP the European Union requires of member states.