Michel Barnier is new prime minister of France

SWING IN BELIEF For 50 yrs, he was centrist, liberal-minded neo-Gaullist; in 2021, he lurched to extreme right

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday appointed the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, as prime minister of France, as he seeks to put an end to two months of political paralysis after a snap election.

Macron said he had tasked Barnier with forming “a unifying government in the service of the country”.

Macron shocked France by calling a snap parliamentary election in June that resulted in a hung parliament and a deeply divided political landscape.

A leftwing coalition emerged as France’s biggest political force but with not enough seats to reach an absolute majority of 289 in the national assembly. Macron’s centrist faction and the far right make up the two other major groups. Barnier’s traditional rightwing party came fourth and has 47 seats in parliament.