New French Prime Minister Bayrou will meet with far-right leader Le Pen on Monday, according to Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) – New French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou will meet the heads of parliamentary parties on Monday and Tuesday, starting with Marine Le Pen of the Rassemblement National, he told La Tribune Dimanche in an interview.
Bayrou, whose appointment on Friday made him the fourth person to serve as France’s prime minister this year, will face managing the 2025 budget in a tumultuous parliament. It was the same job that eventually ousted his predecessor Michel Barnier, whose three-month tenure was the shortest in modern French history.
Bayrou’s meetings will be held in order of the size of the groups. Le Pen’s Rassemblement National won a majority of seats when President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections in June, but fell short of a majority.
A left-wing coalition called the New Popular Front is the largest party.
“My first job was to be a builder and, I failed, I became a mechanic,” Bayrou told the newspaper.
Barnier tried to increase taxes on companies and wealthy individuals to reduce the deficit which is expected to reach 6% of Gross Domestic Product by the end of this year. He was unable to get a majority in parliament to support the plan, with Le Pen saying Barnier should have done more to accommodate his party’s concerns.
After Barnier sought to pass the bill without a majority vote, lawmakers from the right and the left backed a no-confidence vote and he resigned.
Credit rating agency Moody’s (NYSE: ) gave France an unexpected downgrade late Friday, to “Aa3” from “Aa2,” saying the next government is unlikely to reduce the country’s deficit and that public finances will be fragile in the future. three years from their original October status.
