France appoints new PM after historic government collapse
The new Prime Minister of France is the head of the MoDem party, François Bayrou, the Élysée Palace announced. The previous government was forced to resign following a vote of no confidence.
8:12 AM EST, December 13, 2024
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, appointed François Bayrou, head of the MoDem party, as the new Prime Minister and tasked him with forming a government, the Élysée Palace reported on Friday.
François Bayrou is the 73-year-old founder of the centrist MoDem party and a political ally of Macron. In recent days, media reports indicated that Bayrou was the most likely candidate for Prime Minister.
The shortest government of the Fifth Republic
In early December, the left-wing New People's Front (NFP) and the far-right National Rally (RN) submitted motions for a vote of no confidence. On December 4th, the French parliament passed a vote of no confidence against the government of Michel Barnier.
The motion was supported by 331 left-wing and far-right MPs, surpassing the 289 votes required for adoption. The political situation in France was tense because Barnier's government did not hold a majority in parliament.
The center-right government of Michel Barnier was appointed on September 21st. This cabinet went down in history as the shortest in the history of the Fifth Republic, which dates back to 1958. The last time a French government fell due to a vote of no confidence was in 1962.
