French President Emmanuel Macron names Francois Bayrou as Prime Minister

Francois Bayrou has been chosen as the new Prime Minister of France by embattled President Emmanuel Macron as the country remains on the brink of political crisis.

France is no stranger to revolution, and it’s just had another with the toppling of Prime Minister Michel Barnier and subsequent rise of new Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.

The instability is causing political mayhem for President Emmanuel Macron whose second term is due to end in 2027.

Here’s what we know, and what happens next?

France's centrist Democratic Movement (Modem) party leader Francois Bayrou is the new prime Minister of France. Picture: AFP

WHO IS THE NEW FRENCH PM?

Mr Bayrou, the 73-year-old head of the centrist Democratic Movement, known as the Modem group, which is allied to Mr Macron’s party, was appointed nine days after Mr Barnier’s government was ousted by parliament in a historic no-confidence vote following a standoff 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.

Mr Bayrou is the sixth prime minister of Macron’s mandate after last week’s toppling of Mr Barnier, who became France’s shortest-serving prime minister and lasted only three months.

He is also Mr Macron’s fourth prime minister of 2024.

Mr Bayrou now faces an immediate challenge in putting together a cabinet that can survive a no-confidence vote in a deeply divided parliament and thrash out a 2025 budget in a bid to limit economic turmoil.

The announcement was made after Mr Macron received Mr Bayrou for nearly two hours of talks.

BFMTV reported the talks with Bayrou had been “tense”.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE FORMER FRENCH PM?

The National Assembly lower house moved a motion of no-confidence in Michel Barnier, who has been Prime Minister of a minority government since September.

His ousting makes him the shortest occupant of the Prime Ministership since 1958 when the Fifth Republic swept the nation into the modern era of French politics.

Mr Barnier’s ejection in record time came after snap parliamentary elections in June resulted in a hung parliament. No political force was able to form an overall majority and the far right held the key to the government’s survival.

Seventy-three year old Michel Barnier was sometimes referred to as “the French Joe Biden”. Picture: AFP

The prime minister’s key task, which proved his downfall, was to vote through a budget for 2025 in which he said he would begin to tackle France’s deficit with €60bn ($A98bn) in tax increases and spending cuts.

But on Monday, after a standoff over the budget that lasted weeks, Mr Barnier pushed the security financing bill through without a vote.

His use of article 49.3 of the constitution – which allows a government to force through legislation without a vote in parliament – sparked the no-confidence vote.

National Rally leader Marine Le Pen. Picture: AFP

The motion was supported by 331 members, thanks to crucial backing from Marine Le Pen’s far right.

Mr Barnier’s minority coalition had been propped up by National Rally party leader Marie Le Pen, who, although outside government, had an unprecedentedly powerful role as Mr Barnier attempted to placate her to avoid her party joining a no-confidence vote. Mr Barnier had negotiated with her directly, tapering the budget to her demands.

But Ms Le Pen pulled rank, saying Barnier’s budget was a danger to the country. She told French TV on Thursday that the voting system should be changed and proportional representation introduced.

French far-right National Rally political party president Jordan Bardella. Picture: Julien de Rosa / AFP

Jordan Bardella, the parliamentary leader of Le Pen’s National Rally, had described Mr Barnier’s austere financial plan for France as a “budget of punishment that will weaken the purchasing power of our compatriots”.

He had also claimed the National Rally had been ignored in negotiations over the budget.

French political history expert Dr Romain Fathi from the ANU said the Barnier government “fell on its first big hurdle, passing the 2025 budget”.

“I can’t say the Bernier government was always going to fall, but there was a 99 per cent chance it would fall at some stage, be that within a few weeks, a few months, or six months,” he said.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR EMMANUEL MACRON?

Members of the far left called on French President Emmanuel Macron to resign, even though his term is not due to end until 2027.

In an address to the nation, Mr Macron adopted a defiant tone seeking to limit the escalating political crisis vowing to name a new prime minister in the coming days and to rule out giving up the presidency before his second term ends.

“You have given me a democratic mandate of five years and I’ll carry it out fully until its term,” he said in a televised speech to the French people late on Thursday.

He also lashed out at the French far right and hard left for uniting in an “anti-republican front” to bring down the government.

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the nation during a televised broadcast from the presidential Elysee Palace. Picture: Ludovic Marin / AFP

He said the left had “knowingly” chosen “to topple the budget and the government just days before the Christmas holidays.”

Mr Macron said earlier that Barnier and his ministers would remain “in charge of daily business until the appointment of a new government”.

The crisis comes at a time when the President might have expected to ride a wave of popularity, playing host to world dignitaries on Saturday – including US President-elect Donald Trump – at the official reopening of Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral after its billion-dollar restoration.

All the more reason for Mr Macron to defiantly rule out resigning and attempt to limit any impression of political chaos.

Pointing to how the edifice was rebuilt within the five-year timeline he had set, Macron said: “It’s the proof we’re able to do great things, that we can do the impossible.” In an unusual move, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s top diplomat for just two-and-a-half months, urged unity in a message on social media, saying “instability is vulnerability” at a time of international uncertainty.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR FRANCE?

Suggestions of a destabilising coalition between far left and far right members of the Assembly have persisted in France for months.

And the ousting of the government means France is still without a budget.

If parliament does not pass a budget by 20 December, the government can propose emergency legislation that would roll over spending limits and tax provisions from 2024, pending the arrival of a new government and a new 2025 budget bill.

“France probably won’t have a 2025 budget,” said ING Economics in a note, predicting that the country “is entering a new era of political instability”.

Moody’s, a ratings agency, warned that Mr Barnier’s fall “deepens the country’s political stalemate” and “reduces the probability of a consolidation of public finances”.

Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of the national assembly and a member of Macron’s centrist party, said France could not be allowed to “drift” for long.

“There must not be any political hesitation. We need a leader who can speak to everyone and work to pass a new budget bill.”

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier (L) delivers a speech during the debate prior to the no-confidence votes on his administration at the National Assembly in Paris on December 4. Picture: AFP

As France enters a period of political turmoil, the Elysée said Barnier’s government would deal with current day-to-day issues until a new government was appointed.

No new parliament elections can be called before July 2025, narrowing Macron’s options faced with a deeply divided national assembly.

Hard-left leader and founder of the France Unbowed (LFI) party Jean-Luc Melenchon said that Mr Macron was the “cause of the problem” in France “and would go due to the force of events” before his term ends.

Mr Barnier is the fifth prime minister appointed by Mr Macron since he came to power in 2017.

French leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon ahead of an interview with news host Gilles Bouleau on Thursday. Picture: Stephane de Sakutin / AFP

Since Macron called a sudden and inconclusive snap election in June, the French parliament has been divided between three groups with no absolute majority. A left alliance took the largest number of votes but fell short of an absolute majority; Macron’s centrist grouping suffered losses but is still standing and Le Pen’s National Rally gained seats but was held back from power by tactical voting from the left and centre.

“We are now calling on Macron to go,” said Mathilde Panot, the head of the parliamentary faction of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s left wing party, La France Insoumise, who urged “early presidential elections”.

A protester holds a placard reading “(French President) Macron, you stink, get out” during a rally in Marseilles on Thursday as part of a day of action and strike in the public sector. Picture: Clement Mahoudeau / AFP

Ms Le Pen conspicuously did not call for Macron’s immediate resignation, but she said pressure on him would grow.

A poll by Odoxa Backbone Consulting for Le Figaro found 52% of French people thought the no-confidence vote was a “good thing”. Among voters for Le Pen’s National Rally this rose to 72%.

“The majority of National Rally voters think that all this is Emmanuel Macron’s fault,” Gaël Sliman, the head of the pollsters told Le Figaro. “But some National Rally voters, 28%, remain worried about the potential consequences.”

But in his defiant address to the nation, Mr Macron said: “The mandate that you gave to me democratically (in 2022 elections) is a five-year mandate and I will exercise it fully, right up to the end.”

“The 30 months we have ahead of us must be 30 months of useful action for the country.”

Mr Macron went on to admit his decision to call snap parliamentary elections this summer that resulted in a hung parliament “was not understood”.

“Many have blamed me for it and, I know, many continue to blame me. It’s a fact and it’s my responsibility,” he said.

WHAT DOES THE FRENCH PM DO?

While the President is the Head of State, the Prime Minister is the Head of Government.
They are appointed by the President, and while they are usually the leader of the party that has won the most seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, this is not a legal requirement.

Crudely described, the Prime Minister is largely responsible for domestic issues, while the President is responsible for foreign issues, including defence.

But the job of French Prime Minister has an increasingly short tenure: each person who has held the role since Mr Macron became President in 2017 has held it for a shorter period of time than their predecessor. Mr Barnier held the office for 90 days; his predecessor Gabriel Attal was in the role for 240 days.

Originally published as French President Emmanuel Macron names Francois Bayrou as Prime Minister