{"id":408200,"date":"2025-09-08T16:16:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T16:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/408200\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T16:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T16:16:16","slug":"french-government-on-the-brink-as-prime-minister-faces-defeat-in-confidence-vote-latest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/408200\/","title":{"rendered":"French government on the brink as prime minister faces defeat in confidence vote – latest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Analysis\"The possible runners and riders to replace Bayroupublished at 16:29 British Summer Time<\/p>\n

16:29 BST<\/p>\n

\"\"Hugh Schofield<\/strong>
Paris correspondent<\/p>\n

If Bayrou falls, pressure will be strong on President Macron
\nto name a prime minister from the left. After all, the last two
\nnominees (Barnier and Bayrou) were from the right and centre, and a left
\nalliance came out numerically top in the 2024 election. <\/p>\n

As head of the Socialist Party (PS), Olivier Faure<\/b>
\nwould be one possibility. The 57 year-old has a group of 66 deputies in the
\nNational Assembly. <\/p>\n

Half-Vietnamese by birth, he is a modest and moderate figure
\nwho has spent his life in Socialist politics. His main handicap is the
\nparty\u2019s troubled relationship with the far-left firebrand Jean-Luc
\nM\u00e9lenchon. <\/p>\n

That is why Macron might turn to a personality who
\nidentifies broadly with the Socialists, but is not necessarily of their
\nranks. Two such figures are the former prime minister Bernard
\nCazeneuve<\/b>, and the veteran ex-minister Pierre Moscovici<\/b>,
\ncurrently head of the Cour des Comptes (the official accounting office).<\/p>\n

Another intriguing possibility is the current finance
\nminister Eric Lombard<\/b>, who although by trade a banker is known for his
\nsocial-liberal leanings.<\/p>\n

If Macron decides to stick with the centre and right, his
\nfirst choice would probably be the defence minister Sebastien Lecornu.<\/b><\/p>\n

The 39 year-old was in the running last December before the
\nnomination of Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou. He is said to be close to President
\nMacron, who has given him the task of building up French military capabilities.<\/p>\n

A political conservative, Lecornu was a member of the
\nGaullist UMP party and its successor the Republicans (LR). He left to
\njoin Macron\u2019s party when the president was first elected in 2017.<\/p>\n

Another conservative whose name has been mentioned is the
\ncurrent minister of labour and health Catherine Vautrin<\/b>. <\/p>\n

Two other possibilities from inside government are Interior
\nMinister Bruno Retailleau<\/b>, who now leads LR, and Justice Minister G\u00e9rald
\nDarmanin.<\/b><\/p>\n

But with all eyes on the 2027 presidential election, would
\nthese heavyweights want the electoral kiss-of-death which is to be Macron\u2019s
\nnext PM?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The possible runners and riders to replace Bayroupublished at 16:29 British Summer Time 16:29 BST Hugh SchofieldParis correspondent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-408200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115169577268683796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}