Nearly two months after the second round of vote in France to elect members of the National Assembly, Emmanuel Macron has appointed the new Prime Minister of the country – Michel Barnier.
The nomination follows weaks of growing from across the political spectrum to put forward a candidate.
Macron’s government has been reeling since his party lost its majority in parliament amid a rise in seats for The National Rally (RN), a far-right party led by Marine le Pen.
Ms Le Pen has ruled out RN being part of a government led by Mr Barnier, 73, the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator.
Before his appointment take effect he must face a vote of confidence by MPs in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament.
Macron and his aides have for weeks been searching for a candidate able to pull together backers in parliament and survive possible bids by the President’s opponents to topple the new government Mr Barnier will form and lead.
Announcing the appointment, Mr Macron’s office said he had been tasked “with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people.”
“This appointment comes after an unprecedented cycle of consultations during which, in accordance with his constitutional duty, the president ensured that the prime minister and the future government would meet the conditions to be as stable as possible and give themselves the chances of uniting as broadly as possible,” the statement added.
Barnier is replacing Gabriel Attal, who stepped down on July 16 following quick-fire legislative elections returned a divided and hung parliament, bringing further political turmoil to Paris.
But Mr Macron decided to Attal and his ministers in post in a caretaker capacity in a big to maintain political stablity during the Paris Olympics, which took place between July 26 and Aug. 11, when the country was under the global spotlight.
During his time as the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, Mr Barnier had fierce battles with former PM Boris Johnson, and was a staunch defender of the EU.
In his 2021 account of the negotiations, called My Secret Brexit Diary: A Glorious Illusion, he described the UK’s exit from the EU as “a lose-lose game with no added value for the United Kingdom or the EU.
He has been seen a moderate for most of his career but toughened his language during his failed bid in 2021 to get his conservative party’s nomination for the presidency, saying immigration had gotten out of control.
Many in Paris regard Mr Barnier as more acceptable to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and the moderate wing of the Socialist Party, but some came out strongly against the appointment.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the influential far-left leader lambasted the move predicted that new PM wouldn’t be able to secure a majority backing and claimed the election had been “stolen”.
Melenchon furiously insisted the appointment was at odds with the July 7 legislative election results that saw the National Assembly between three main blocs, made up of the left, which includes Melenchon’s party; Macron’s centrist coalition, and the far right, which converged around Ms Le Pen.