At 73, Barnier is the oldest premier in the history of modern France and has been tasked with forming "a unifying government in the service of the country," the presidency said in a statement. A right-wing former minister and European commissioner, Barnier was the European Union's negotiator on Brexit. He has been all but invisible in French political life since failing to win his party's nomination to challenge Macron for the presidency in 2022.

France had been without a permanent government since the July 7 polls, in which the left formed the largest faction in a hung parliament with Macron's centrists and the far right comprising the other major groups. Amid the political deadlock Macron, who has less than three years of his term remaining, ran down the clock as the Olympics and Paralympics took place in Paris, to the growing frustration of opponents.

In its statement, the presidency said: "This appointment comes after an unprecedented cycle of consultations during which, in accordance with his constitutional duty, the president ensured that the prime minister and the future government would meet the conditions to be as stable as possible and give themselves the chances of uniting as broadly as possible."

AzVision.az

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