France’s Le Pen hails ‘positive’ meeting with new PM Bayrou

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen struck an upbeat tone after meeting the country’s new Prime Minister François Bayrou on Monday, describing his approach as “more positive” than that of his short-lived predecessor Michel Barnier.

Bayrou is meeting the heads of France’s parliamentary groups this week, and Le Pen and Jordan Bardella of the National Rally (RN) were the first to hold talks with the PM.

The centrist leader’s appointment on Friday by President Emmanuel Macron means he is the fourth French prime minister this year.

Bayrou’s first task is to achieve consensus in a fractured parliament and deliver a social security budget for 2025, after Barnier’s failure to do so led to his ouster.

Barnier was toppled at the start of the month in a no-confidence vote backed by the far right and the left after he tried to force through his budget without a parliamentary vote. This made him the shortest-serving French PM in history, having lasted only 91 days.

Le Pen was one of the chief architects of Barnier’s downfall, having repeatedly criticised his cabinet’s 2025 social security budget and refused to give it the RN’s backing — despite concessions at the eleventh hour from the former PM.

After the RN’s meeting with Bayrou, Le Pen said the prime minister had “listened” to her.

“As a matter of principle, he (Bayrou) would like to have regular appointments with political parties,” Le Pen told French media. “I think that method is more positive.”

“It’s perhaps a little early to say if we were heard, but we were listened to,” she added.

Bayrou is planning to meet all parties, which will take place in order of their sizes, except Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left France Unbowed (LFI), which has refused talks.

As Macron’s centrist alliance lacks a majority in parliament, Bayrou will need to rely on moderate lawmakers from both the left and right to stay in power — and placate Le Pen given that the RN is France’s biggest parliamentary party with 124 of the 577 seats.

Although the RN criticised Bayrou’s appointment, Bardella and Le Pen have said they are willing to give him a chance and would not block his government without reviewing its proposals.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Le Pen told French media. “The prime minister said to us that he wanted all members of parliament to be treated totally equally, that each political group be heard, be respected, which is evidently a source of satisfaction for us.”

Bayrou, a three-time presidential candidate, said last week that he faces a “Himalayan” struggle to tackle France’s deficit. The country faces pressure from the EU’s executive body and financial markets to tackle its huge debt, estimated to hit 6% of GDP this year.

Barnier’s social security budget bill, which aimed to raise taxes and cut spending to the combined tune of 60 billion euros, was roundly rejected by the far right and the left.

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Bayrou’s priority will be passing emergency legislation to roll over the 2024 budget, then starting negotiations for next year’s budget, which will likely happen in January at earliest.