New PM Francois Bayrou says he knows ‘difficulty’ of France’s situation

Paris: France’s new Prime Minister Francois Bayrou says he is well aware of the scale of France’s financial and political problems, comparing the country’s budget deficit to the Himalayan mountain range.

“No one knows better than me the difficulty of the situation,” Bayrou said at a handover ceremony with former Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

“I am fully aware of the Himalayas that loom ahead of us,” he said of the budget deficit now at 6.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

President Emmanuel Macron named centrist Bayrou as his new prime minister after Barnier was forced by far-right and left-wing lawmakers to step down after just three months in office in a historic no-confidence vote last week.

Bayrou is a well-known figure in French politics whose political experience is seen as key in efforts to restore stability to the country.

The 73-year-old leader of the Democratic Movement (Mouvement Democrate, or MoDem) group, which has been allied to the president’s centrist Renaissance party since he swept to power in 2017.