Barnier Reaches Out to French Far Right in Bid for Stability

  • Macron’s pick follows months of limbo after snap elections
  • Premier will now be faced with forming a new government

Marine Le Pen and Michel Barnier

Photographer: Bertrand Guay and Sarah Meyssonnier/AFP/Getty Images
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France’s new prime minister, Michel Barnier, made a plea for the country’s political factions to work together to move beyond the turbulence of recent months.

The former Brexit czar for the European Union pledged to focus on issues important to the far right such as security and reducing migration in a nod to the central priorities of Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally, though he didn’t mention her by name.