Macron has made his decision after two months! Here is France's new prime minister.

French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Michel Barnier, the former Brexit negotiator for the European Union, as the new prime minister after weeks of unsuccessful early elections and lengthy negotiations.

A CONSERVATIVE POLITICIAN

73-year-old Barnier led the exit negotiations between the EU and the UK from 2016 to 2021. Prior to that, the conservative politician served in various French governments and also held the position of EU Commissioner.

Macron evaluated a series of potential prime ministers in recent weeks, but none of them were able to gather enough support to guarantee a stable government, and there is no guarantee that Barnier's government reforms will be accepted by a suspended parliament. However, the far-right National Rally (RN), one of the largest parties in parliament following the elections held in early July, signaled that they would not reject Barnier if certain conditions were met.

According to the French Constitution, the president has the authority to appoint the prime minister, but according to political tradition, the prime minister is selected from the party or alliance that receives the most votes. Macron had rejected the joint prime minister candidate of the left-wing alliance, Lucie Castets, who was the winner of the elections.

WHAT HAPPENED?

After the far-right's victory in the European Parliament elections on June 9, Macron decided to dissolve the National Assembly and hold early general elections in order to bring "clarity" to the political arena. In the elections where the left-wing New People's Front won the most seats, no party or alliance was able to reach the majority of 289 seats, resulting in the most fragmented parliament in French history. Macron announced that he would not appoint a new prime minister during the 2024 Paris Olympics hosted by his country and requested that Gabriel Attal's government, who had submitted his resignation, remain in office for a while longer.

Macron, who suspended the negotiations during the Olympic Games, resumed them on August 23. He rejected Lucie Castets, the joint prime minister candidate of the left-wing alliance, and announced that he would continue the negotiations. Following the early general elections in France, the National Assembly is composed of the largest political group with 193 members from the NFP and its affiliates, followed by Macron's ruling coalition with 166 members and the far-right RN and its partners with 142 members.