The appointment of the EU's former Brexit negotiator, a member of the right-wing Les Républicains party, comes after almost two months of deadlock following legislative elections that produced no clear majority in Parliament.
Marine Le Pen’s phone has rung frequently. President Emmanuel Macron has been asking for the far-right leader’s opinion. What does she think of Xavier Bertrand for prime minister? Nothing good. Le Pen has a fierce hatred for Bertrand, the right-wing Les Républicains (LR) president of the northern region where is elected. And she let Macron know it. So, the representative of the moderate right is no longer a frontrunner for the job.
According to the Elysée, Le Pen was to have her voice heard, like the other party and group leaders in the Assemblée Nationale, on the advisability of appointing the former Brexit negotiator to the role.
A pariah in the July 7 legislative elections, where the spirit of the “republican front” to block the far right was rekindled, the RN has now taken on the role of kingmaker. “What a disgrace!,” commented David Djaïz, former rapporteur for the president’s National Council for Refoundation
He talks to them alright: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2024/09/05/far-right-given-kingmaker-role-in-macron-s-prime-minister-search_6724909_5.html