PARIS (AFP) – France’s new right-wing Prime Minister Michel Barnier started consulting all sides yesterday to cobble together a government capable of mustering a majority in Parliament after two months of political deadlock.
The 73-year-old, a former foreign minister who recently acted as the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, is the oldest premier in the history of modern France.
Taking over from 35-year-old Gabriel Attal, a centrist half his age, Barnier pledged to take on his new task with “humility”.
He said education, security and “immigration control” were his priorities and said he would be unafraid to speak the truth on the country’s “financial debt”, but also promised “change”. President Emmanuel Macron named Barnier after weeks of impasse as France hosted the Olympics and part of the Paralympics after his centrist alliance lost its relative majority in Parliament in a snap election.
