France's Macron Appoints Centrist as Prime Minister

By Stacy Meichtry

PARIS--French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Francois Bayrou as prime minister on Friday, picking a seasoned centrist to referee between France's rowdy political factions and find a way out of the political crisis that has paralyzed the country for months.

Macron appointed Bayrou after his predecessor Michel Barnier failed to gather enough support in France's badly fractured National Assembly to pass a budget for 2025. Barnier, a 73-year-old member of the conservative Les Republicains party, resigned last week, just three months into the job, after lawmakers voted for the first time in more than a half-century to oust a prime minister from office.

Macron is trying to cobble together support among establishment parties like Les Republicains and the Socialists in order to break the deadlock inside the National Assembly.

Write to Stacy Meichtry at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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