French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou is running out of time to have time to form a new cabinet that will not be quickly ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament, Luxembourg Times reports.
The new team was expected to be unveiled over the weekend after Bayrou said last week that he and President Emmanuel Macron would finalise their choices before the Christmas break. But French media reported on Sunday night that the decision had been postponed until Monday at the earliest. The president’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s previous government was ousted earlier this month when left-wing and far-right lawmakers united to back a vote of no confidence over the 2025 budget bill.
Political difficulties in France began in June when Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called snap elections. The vote left the lower house of parliament split between three warring blocs: the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, a the group led by Marine Le Pen and the presidential centrists.
Following Bayrou’s nomination to replace Barnier, Le Pen and some NPF members said they would not directly condemn the government if there was a change in its policies.
To avoid the same fate as his predecessor, Bayrou, France’s fourth prime minister in a year, is seeking to broaden the political base of his future cabinet, particularly in negotiations with the more moderate Socialists in the National Assembly. In an attempt to mollify their opposition, he has opened the door to cancelling Macron’s pension reform, which raised the minimum retirement age to 64 and sparked mass protests last year.
But the Socialist Party said in a letter to Bayrou late Friday that he had not shown enough will to abandon the policies that led to Barnier’s ouster. The party said:
“You still haven’t given us a method or a calendar, and we have not the slightest idea what compromises you yourself would be open to.”
The new government’s main task will be to draw up a 2025 budget to replace the emergency law passed on Saturday that ensures a minimum level of spending to avoid a shutdown.
France’s political and budgetary problems have triggered a sell-off in the country’s debt in recent months, pushing up borrowing costs compared to similar European countries. Bayrou has said he aims to finalise the budget by mid-February.
To avoid disrupting plans to form a government before Christmas, Macron must either make the appointments on Monday – a day of national mourning for the cyclone disaster in the French territory of Mayotte – or on December 24, when many families in France will start celebrating Christmas. Marc Fesneau, a lawmaker from the premier’s group said in an interview with Sunday paper La Tribune Dimanche:
“The deadline indicated by Francois Bayrou and wished for by the president should be respected. The composition of the new government should be announced before Christmas.”
