Macron appoints former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as new France PM

French President Emmanuel Macron named former Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier as the country’s new prime minister Thursday, ending 50 weeks of caretaker government and intense political wrangling after snap elections in July failed to deliver a majority for any party.

Barnier, a conservative, will now need to survive a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly, which is currently divided between Macron’s centrist grouping, the left-wing New Popular Front, and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.