Emmanuel Macron appointed 73-year-old Michel Barnier as France’s new Prime Minister yesterday, 60 days after the parliamentary elections, which Macron called following the European election results, where the far-right secured the highest share of votes.
Barnier, set to become the oldest Prime Minister in French history, is a member of the center-right Republican party, founded by Charles De Gaulle and later led by Nicolas Sarkozy. Though the party has governed France for many years, it finished fourth in terms of seats in the National Assembly in the recent elections. Barnier served as a minister four times, twice as a European Commissioner, and as head of the Brexit task force in 2016.
The left-wing New Popular Front is calling for protests after the French president declined to appoint a prime minister from their party.
The leader of the Socialist Party, part of the New Popular Front coalition, Olivier Faure, said that the decision to appoint a prime minister from a party that came fourth in the elections is a “rejection of democracy.”
Whether Barnier seeks a vote of confidence from the National Assembly or faces a no-confidence motion, he will need 289 votes to remain in office. At present, he has 213 votes from his party and Macron’s. Therefore, to “survive,” he will need at least the tolerance of the far-right, a situation that, according to media reports, [1], [2], [3], is expected to strengthen Marine Le Pen’s influence despite it winning the most seats.
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