MACRON SAYS HE WILL APPOINT A NEW PRIME MINISTER IN THE COMING DAYS – Macron’s standing weakened amid calls for his resignation

French President Emmanuel Macron will appoint a new prime minister in the coming days whose top priority will be getting a 2025 budget adopted by parliament, he said on Thursday after the government was toppled by MPs.

Michel Barnier, a conservative, became the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history when he resigned on Thursday after parliament voted him out over his fiscal plans, barely three months after he was appointed.

In a televised address to the nation, Macron said he would name a successor to Barnier “in the coming days.” “The priority will be the budget,” Macron said.

A special law to roll over the 2024 budget and avoid any gap will be put forward by mid-December. Then the new government will prepare a full budget early next year, in particular to account for inflation, for a vote by parliament.

Macron has been weakened by the crisis but resisted calls by some in the opposition for him to resign. He reaffirmed that he will stay in office until his term ends in May 2027.