French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to name a new prime minister in the “coming days” to replace Michel Barnier, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote after just three months in office.
Macron did not announce any names in an address to the nation late Thursday and no appointment is expected before Monday, multiple sources told AFP.
Barnier was Macron’s fifth prime minister since coming to power in 2017. Each successive Prime Minister has served for a shorter period than his predecessor and given the structure of the National Assembly, there is no guarantee that Barnier’s successor will last longer than his term.
Here, AFP takes a look at four names seen as the most likely contenders.
All potential candidates so far have been men and all were already in the running in September when Barnier was ultimately appointed.
But it cannot be ruled out that another candidate could emerge, with Barnier himself coming into contention only at the last minute.
Sebastian Lecornu
Lecornu, a staunch Macron loyalist, was the only key minister to retain a post from the previous government in the last cabinet reshuffle in September, a measure of the importance of his job in the third year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A career politician, Lecornu, still only 38, started out as a parliamentary assistant when he was just 19. He has held ministerial positions since Macron came to power in 2017 and was promoted to Defense Minister in May 2022.
He has worked strongly to maintain aid to Ukraine, while carefully remaining in the shadows with only occasional media appearances.
Some French media, including BFM-TV, reported that Macron was close to naming Lecornu in his address on Thursday, but he decided to take more time after some in the president’s camp said the minister was too right-wing.
Francois Bayru
A heavyweight politician who has been allied with Macron since his 2017 election campaign brought him to power, Bayru heads the Modem party, which is affiliated with, but not part of, Macron’s centrist force.
Bayeru, 73, was acquitted in February after a seven-year-long case of fraudulent appointment of parliamentary assistants by his party, with the judge ruling that he was owed the “benefit of the doubt”.
A three-time presidential candidate, Bayeru was named Justice Minister by Macron when he assumed the presidency in 2017.
He resigned the same year when the legal case was opened against him but he remained a key ally behind the scenes, with his acquittal opening the way for a possible return to government.
Xavier Bertrand
Bertrand, 59, is the right-wing premier of the northern Hauts-de-France region and previously served as labor and health minister under presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy between 2005 and 2012.
An outspoken media artiste, Bertrand unsuccessfully sought the nomination of the right-wing Republican (LR) party to contest the 2022 presidential election.
He remains close to Sarkozy, who wields considerable influence on the traditional right, despite criminal convictions in trials since leaving office.
Bernard Cazeneuve
Bernard Cazeneuve, a 61-year-old former Socialist Party grandee, held the post of prime minister for less than half a year under Francois Hollande’s presidency from 2016-2017.
He is best known for his long tenure as interior minister under Hollande, which coincided with the radical Islamist attacks on Paris in November 2015.
Cazeneuve left the Socialists in 2022 in protest at the party’s broad-left compromise with factions including the hard-left France Unbiased (LFI) and he still has strained relations with his former colleagues.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
