Michel Barnier is the new prime minister of France. Best known in Britain as the EU’s chief negotiator during the Brexit negotiations, the 73-year-old is the oldest premier in the history of the Fifth Republic and he was unveiled sixty days after the parliamentary elections that threw the Republic into chaos.
Le Pen appears satisfied with the choice of Barnier
In a statement issued from the Élysée, president Emmanuel Macron said he believed he had found the person to lead a government that ‘meets the conditions to be as stable as possible and give themselves the chances to gather the widest possible support’. The appointment brings to an end a shambolic summer that saw France drift leaderless during what Macron described as an ‘Olympic truce’.
But the left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, which won most seats in the second round of the election on 7 July, had used the political ceasefire to promote its candidate for PM, Lucie Castets.
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