French President Emmanuel Macron selected centrist Francois Bayrou as the country's new prime minister, the Elysee Palace announced on Friday.
The 73-year-old former Justice Minister, three-time presidential candidate and head of the Democratic Movement, will succeed conservative Michel Barnier, whose government was toppled last week, and has to start afresh the task of forming a government and drafting a new budget for 2025.
Since Macron's decision to call snap legislative elections in the summer, France's political landscape has remained in a deadlock.
