French President Emmanuel Macron met with his political allies and leaders in the parliament on Thursday to quickly appoint a new prime minister.
As per Reuters, this action followed the resignation of Michel Barnier, which happened just a day after opposition lawmakers voted to remove his government.
Barnier, an experienced conservative was appointed as France’s prime minister by President Macron just three months ago.
He became the shortest living prime minister in modern French history after failing to gather enough support for a budget aimed at reducing the country’s large deficit.
As per the sources Macron planned to appoint a new prime minister without any delay, with one source mentioning that he hoped to do so before the Saturday ceremony marking the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Notre-Dame, a Gothic masterpiece and one of the Paris’ most cherished and visited landmarks is set to reopen later this week to both tourists and Catholic worshippers, following significant damage from fire in 2019.
The president had lunch with Francois Bayrou, whose name has been mentioned by French media as a potential successor to Barnier.
However, when asked for a comment, Bayrou’s assistant did not respond regarding whether Bayrou had been chosen for the role.