As he took over the position of French prime minister on 13 December, the veteran centrist politician François Bayrou spoke of two “obsessions” that would guide his government. The first was breaking down the “separation” between citizens and their democratic institutions. The second was a meritocratic agenda which Emmanuel Macron had voiced upon his first election seven years ago. In Bayrou’s words, French people should be able to control their own lives, not “handed a fate which they have no mastery of” just because of where they happened to be born.
Such promises sounded tired – not least because Bayrou is the third new prime minister in 2024 to make them. Taking over from Michel Barnier, he spoke of a new, more open way of doing politics, echoing Macron’s call to unite “both left and right”. Yet such an offer sways few today. After being punished in the summer’s snap elections, the Macronist alliance of which Bayrou is part has fewer than a third of MPs. It will have a tough time building majorities for legislation, unless it can win over both the conservative Republicans and the centre-left Socialists.
Content from our partners
