Macron’s new prime minister, Barrow, says that France’s predicament reaches no one more than me

Centrist leader Francois Bairro has become France’s latest prime minister, chosen by President Emmanuel Macron to end months of political impasse.

Bayrou, the 73-year-old mayor from the southwest who leads the MoDem party, said he was fully aware of the “Himalayan” task facing France, and that he “hid nothing, overlooked nothing.” committed to doing and not leaving anything aside”.

Macron’s delegation sees him as a potential consensus candidate and his task will be to avoid the fate of his predecessor.

Former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier was ousted by MPs nine days ago and welcomed the bureau to the prime minister’s residence on Friday.

Barnier was voted in on a budget aimed at reducing France’s budget deficit, which will reach 6.1 percent of economic output (GDP) this year. Bayrou said the deficit and public debt was a moral and financial problem – because “it’s a terrible thing to pass it on to your children”.

Macron is halfway through his second term as president and Bairro will be his fourth prime minister this year.

French politics has been at a standstill since Macron called for snap parliamentary elections over the summer, and 61 percent of French voters were worried about the political situation, according to a poll for BFMTV on Thursday.

Although successive allies praised Bairro’s appointment, Socialist regional leader Carol Delga said the whole process had become a “bad movie”. Manuel Bompard, leader of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI), complained of a “pathetic spectacle”.

The centre-left Socialists said they were ready to talk to Bairro but would not take part in his government. Leader Olivier Faure said that because Macron had chosen someone “from his camp”, the Socialists would remain in opposition.

President Macron has vowed to remain in office until the end of his second term in 2027, despite the fall of Barnier last week.

He cut short a visit to Poland on Thursday and was expected to name his new prime minister on Thursday night, but postponed his announcement until Friday.

He then met Barrow at the Elysée Palace and hours later the final decision was made. But in an indication of the rich nature of the conversation, Le Monde The newspaper suggested that Macron had preferred another ally, Roland Lescore, but changed his mind when Bairro threatened to withdraw his party’s support.

Bayrou arrived at the prime minister’s residence at Hotel Matignon late Friday afternoon. Even before his name was confirmed, the red carpet was rolled out for the transfer of power.

His challenge will be to form a government like his predecessors in the National Assembly. The far-left France Inbud (LFI) has already threatened to call for a no-confidence vote as soon as possible.

Before his appointment, Macron held a round table with the leaders of all the main political parties, blocking a national rally by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far left and Marine Le Pen’s far right.

The question is who can be persuaded to join Bairu’s government, or at least agree to a deal so they don’t oust him.

When the only possible means of survival for a minority government is to bridge left and right, As the BBC’s Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield reports, the bureau has the advantage of having working relationships with both sides.

Michel Barnier was only appointed in September and said on Friday that he knew from the start that his government’s days were numbered.

They were voted in after Le Pen’s national rally joined left-wing MPs in rejecting a €60bn (£50bn) plan of tax hikes and spending cuts.

His outgoing government has introduced a bill to extend the provisions of the 2024 budget into next year. But after the next government takes over, the alternative budget for 2025 has to be approved.

Bairro said it was a “moral obligation” to reduce France’s deficit and debt.

Barnier wished his successor well, adding that “our country is facing an unprecedented and serious situation”.

Under the political system of the French Fifth Republic, the president is elected for a five-year term and a prime minister is named whose cabinet is chosen by the president.

Unusually, President Macron called for snap parliamentary elections in the summer after a poor result in EU elections in June. The result plunged France into a political stalemate, with three major political blocs: the left, the center and the far right.

Ultimately he chose Barnier to form a minority government dependent on Marine Le Pen’s national rally for its survival. Macron is now hoping to restore stability without relying on his party.

Three centre-left parties – the Socialists, the Greens and the Communists – took part in talks with Macron, aligning themselves with the more radical left LFI.

However, he made it clear that he wanted a Prime Minister from the Left rather than a Union minister.

“I told you that I wanted someone from the left and from the Greens and I think Mr. Barrow is not one or the other,” Greens leader Marine Tondelier told French TV on Thursday.

Patrick Kenner of the Socialists said that just because his party was not joining Barrow’s government, “doesn’t mean we’re going to kill him”.

Sébastien Chenau, a National Rally MP, said for his party it was less about who Macron chose than what “political line” he chose. If Bayrou wants to tackle the immigration and life crisis, he will “find an ally in us”.

Relations between the centre-left and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical LFI have broken over the decision by all three parties to push ahead with talks with President Macron.

The LFI leader called on his former allies to withdraw from the coalition agreement, with the Socialists’ Olivier Faure telling French TV that “the more Mélenchon shouts, the less he is heard”.

Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen has called for her party’s policies on the cost of living to be taken into account by the incoming government, creating a budget that “does not cross the red lines of each party”.