French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he cut short a visit to Poland Thursday to return home to name a new prime minister eight days after French lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a no-confidence vote.
Barnier, who had been prime minister for just three months, angered members of parliament on both the right and the left last week when he pushed through the 2025 budget without parliamentary approval, something Barnier said he did to maintain "stability" amid France's deep political divisions.
Macron asked Barnier to stay on in a caretaker capacity until the president names a successor.
Following a meeting with Macron at his Elysee Palace office Tuesday, party leaders said the president had promised to name a replacement to lead the government within 48 hours.
The meeting did not include the far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen or the far-left France Unbowed party of Jean-Luc Melenchon. The Associated Press reports Macron said he would only speak with more moderate political forces.
Following last week’s no-confidence vote, Macron, in a nationally televised speech, vowed to stay in office until the end of his term in 2027. He also promised to appoint a prime minister who would form a government “in the general interest, representing all the political parties who can participate in it, or at least who agree not to bring it down."
A spokeswoman for Barnier’s caretaker government, Maud Bregeon, told reporters Wednesday Macron would either seek to bring parties from the center-left into his center/center-right coalition or make a deal with them not hold any no confidence votes against them.
Analysts suggest top candidates to be prime minister include centrist Democratic Movement party leader François Bayrou, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu and center-left ex-Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
