Paris, French Republic (Weltexpress). French President Emmanuel Macron has officially appointed Francois Bayrou, the leader of the centrist Democratic Movement, as prime minister, according to a statement from the Elysée Palace in Paris today. ‘The President of the Republic has appointed Francois Bayrou as Prime Minister and has entrusted him with forming a new government,’ the central sentence in the statement reads.
Bayrou, 73, succeeds Michel Barnier, who resigned on 4 December 2024 after a successful vote of no confidence in his cabinet by members of the French lower house. In 2024, the leader of the Democratic Movement will be the fourth French prime minister after Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal and Barnier. Bayrou has been at the helm of the Democratic Movement since 2007. In 2014, he took over as mayor of Pau, a city in southwestern France. He has also been the chairman of the National Council for Refoundation since 2020. Bayrou is also an experienced presidential candidate, having already run for the French presidency in 2002, 2007 and 2012. In 2017, however, he decided against running and supported Macron.
