French President Emmanuel Macron postponed the appointment of a new prime minister until Friday morning. His office announced it on Thursday evening, Reuters reports. He originally wanted to appoint the prime minister during Thursday, reminds TASR.
“The name of the Prime Minister will be published tomorrow morning,” said the Elysee Palace shortly after Macron returned from a visit to Poland on Thursday, according to AFP.
Macron pledged on Tuesday to appoint a new prime minister within 48 hours in a bid to end the political deadlock, which occurred after the parliament expressed no confidence in the cabinet of the current Prime Minister Michel Barnier last Wednesday, thus ending his government.
The French president promised such a date after the negotiations he completed on Tuesday in the Elysee Palace with representatives of all parliamentary parties except for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Association (RN) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left Unyielding France (LFI) movement.
The French parliament is relatively evenly split between the left, Macron’s centrists, conservatives and the RN party. According to AFP, Macron is under great pressure to appoint a government that can win the confidence of parliament and pass next year’s state budget.
That’s why announced a special law on the budget, which should enable the normal functioning of the state even after the New Year. Lawmakers should discuss it on December 16, while most parties have already announced that they will support the legislation for the sake of stability.
AFP already reported on Wednesday that the most likely candidates for the post of new prime minister are centrist leader Francois Bayrou, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian or Minister of Defense Sébastien Lecornu.
