Emmanuel Macron Names Michel Barnier As France’s New Prime Minister

French President Emmanuel Macron has named Michel Barnier as the country's new prime minister. Michel Barnier is the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator. At 73, he is the oldest prime minister in the modern political history of France. The appointment of a new PM ends more than 50 days of a caretaker government in the country.

Michel Barnier, an experienced politician, has also served multiple terms as an EU commissioner and in previous French governments, including as environment minister and foreign minister. Notably, he sought to challenge Emmanuel Macron in the 2022 presidential election but failed to win the right-wing party’s nomination. Meanwhile, Barnier said that his tenure "will be about addressing, as much as we can, the challenges, the anger, the suffering, the feeling of abandonment, of injustice running through many of our cities, suburbs and rural areas," reported Reuters. 

The appointment of Michel Barnier as new PM has ended a period of high uncertainty the country has ever witnessed. Notably, Macron took two months to name the PM. The dilemma emerged as the snap elections resulted in a hung parliament. The National Assembly is divided into three near-equal blocs. This includes the left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP), Macron’s centrist group, and the far-right National Rally. Also, none of the three blocs is even close to having a majority of 289 seats out of 577.