Michel Barnier named French Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron

Former EU commissioner's immediate task will be to submit a draft 2025 budget before October 1

President Emmanuel Macron named Michel Barnier, the former EU Brexit negotiator, as France's new Prime Minister on Thursday after more than 50 days of caretaker government. AP

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday nominated the EU's former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as France's new Prime Minister, ending France's longest period without a permanent government in almost six decades.

Mr Barnier, 73, would be the oldest Prime Minister of France's Fifth Republic, after its youngest, Gabriel Attal, 34, resigned on July 16 after Mr Macron's party suffered a heavy defeat in a July snap election. A formal transfer-of-power ceremony will take place at 6pm local time.

Mr Barnier has been all but invisible in French politics since failing to win his right-wing Republicans (LR) party's nomination to challenge Mr Macron for the presidency in 2022.

The former foreign minister and EU commissioner is widely viewed as “Macron-compatible” and would not be immediately voted out by parliament.

“He is a skilled negotiator,” LR MP Emilie Bonnivard told broadcaster BFMTV. “He knows how to talk to politicians from different political backgrounds which will be an asset, as long as they work in good faith.”

His nomination led to anger among left-wing politicians, who said Mr Macron's choice was dictated by far-right leader Marine Le Pen. They also highlighted Mr Barnier's hardline stance on immigration when he campaigned to be LR's presidential candidate in 2021.

At the time, he called for a temporary ban on migration – between three and five years – and for pushing back the retirement age from 62 to 65. Mr Macron's pension reform last year fixed the retirement age at 64.

“We know in the end who decides. Her name is Marine Le Pen. She is the one to whom Macron has decided to submit,” said Green leader Marine Tondelier.

“The election was stolen,” said firebrand left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, who called for protests across France on Saturday.

Mr Barnier's most immediate task will be to form a government and submit a draft 2025 budget for France's strained government finances before October 1.

With only 46 MPs, LR performed poorly in the recent parliamentary election. A left-wing coalition came first but only by a small margin, leading to a hung Parliament.

This explains in part why it took 52 days for Mr Macron to choose a prime minister. But he also wanted a candidate who would not undo his legacy, in particular the pension reform. It was also important that the far-right National Rally, which has 143 MPs out of 577, not be openly hostile to the new prime minister.

In July, Mr Macron rejected the left's candidate - economist and civil servant Lucy Castets, 37 - saying she would be immediately toppled by other political parties.

Several names surfaced in the past weeks, including conservative former minister Xavier Bertrand and former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve, but fell by the wayside with the mathematics of France's new parliament stacked against them.

“We will judge his general policy speech, his budgetary decisions and his actions on the evidence … and we reserve all political means of action if this is not the case in the coming weeks,” said Jordan Bardella, RN's chairman, in a post on X.