Macron names Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as French Prime Minister after months of stalemate
India TV NewsPresident Emmanuel Macron named the EU’s Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, as France’s new prime minister on Thursday after more than 50 days of caretaker government. A statement from Macron's office announcing Barnier's appointment said he'd been tasked “with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people.” “This appointment comes after an unprecedented cycle of consultations during which, in accordance with his constitutional duty, the president ensured that the prime minister and the future government would meet the conditions to be as stable as possible and give themselves the chances of uniting as broadly as possible,” the statement said. Influential far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon immediately came out against Barnier’s appointment and predicted the new prime minister would not get a majority backing in the bitterly divided National Assembly. Melenchon said the appointment flew in the face of the July 7 legislative election results that left parliament’s lower house split between three main blocs — the left, including Melenchon’s party; the center where Macron has based his support, and the far right, converging around anti-immigration leader Marine Le Pen.