President Macron names centrist ally Bayrou as France's next prime minister

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President Macron names centrist ally Bayrou as France's next prime minister

2024-12-13 20:54 Last Updated At：21:00

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday named centrist ally François Bayrou as prime minister in an effort to address the country's deep political crisis, after a historic parliamentary vote ousted the previous government last week.

Bayrou, 73, a crucial partner in Macron’s centrist alliance, has been a well-known figure in French politics for decades. His political experience is seen as key in efforts to restore stability as no single party holds a majority at the National Assembly.

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FILE - French centrist party MoDem (Mouvement Democrate) leader Francois Bayrou leaves after a meeting with France's President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron names key centrist ally François Bayrou as new prime minister Friday Dec.13 2024. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - French centrist party MoDem (Mouvement Democrate) leader Francois Bayrou speaks to reporters after a meeting with France's President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron names key centrist ally François Bayrou as new prime minister Friday Dec.13 2024. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron, right, meets French centrist party MoDem (Mouvement Democrate) leader Francois Bayrou at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron names key centrist ally François Bayrou as new prime minister Friday Dec.13 2024. (Ludovic Marin/Pool photo via AP, File)

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FILE - French centrist party MoDem (Mouvement Democrate) leader Francois Bayrou leaves after a meeting with France's President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron names key centrist ally François Bayrou as new prime minister Friday Dec.13 2024. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - French centrist party MoDem (Mouvement Democrate) leader Francois Bayrou speaks to reporters after a meeting with France's President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron names key centrist ally François Bayrou as new prime minister Friday Dec.13 2024. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron, right, meets French centrist party MoDem (Mouvement Democrate) leader Francois Bayrou at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron names key centrist ally François Bayrou as new prime minister Friday Dec.13 2024. (Ludovic Marin/Pool photo via AP, File)

Macron’s office said in a statement that Bayrou “has been charged with forming a new government.”

Former Prime Minister Michel Barnier resigned last week following a no-confidence vote prompted by budget disputes in the National Assembly, leaving France without a functioning government. Macron in an address to the nation vowed to remain in office until his term ends in 2027.

Bayrou is expected to hold talks with political leaders from various parties in the coming days in order to choose new ministers.

The task appears challenging because Macron’s centrist alliance does not have a majority in parliament and Bayrou’s Cabinet will need to rely on moderate lawmakers from both the left and right to be able to stay in power.

Some conservatives are expected to be part of the new government.

Macron’s strategy aims at preventing far-right leader Marine Le Pen from holding “make or break” power over the government. Le Pen helped oust Barnier by joining her National Rally party’s forces to the left to pass the no-confidence motion last week.

The president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, said Friday his party will take a wait-and-see approach for now. “Our red lines are still there, they’re not going to change,” he warned.

National Rally officials, including Le Pen, have said they want any new budget law to preserve the purchasing power of the French people.

Bayrou’s appointment comes also in line with Macron’s efforts to build a non-aggression pact with the Socialists so that they commit not to vote against the government in any future confidence motion.

Mathilde Panot, head of the hard-left France Unbowed group at the National Assembly, criticized Bayrou’s appointment in a message on X as “the continuity of (Macron’s) bad policies.” She said her party is ready to vote for a no-confidence motion again against the new government.

Bayrou leads the centrist Democratic Movement, known as MoDem, which he founded in 2007.

In 2017, he supported Macron’s first presidential bid and became a weighty partner in the French president’s centrist alliance.

At the time, he was appointed justice minister, but he quickly resigned from the government amid an investigation into the MoDem’s alleged embezzlement of European Parliament funds.

Bayrou this year was cleared in the case by a Paris court, which found eight other party officials guilty and sentenced the party to pay a fine.

Bayrou became well known to the French public when he was education minister from 1993 to 1997 in a conservative government.

He was three times a candidate for president, in 2002, 2007 and 2012.

Buddhist monks and their dog captivate Americans while walking for peace

A group of Buddhist monks and their rescue dog are striding single file down country roads and highways across the South, captivating Americans nationwide and inspiring droves of locals to greet them along their route.

In their flowing saffron and ocher robes, the men are walking for peace. It's a meditative tradition more common in South Asian countries, and it's resonating now in the U.S., seemingly as a welcome respite from the conflict, trauma and politics dividing the nation.

Their journey began Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, and is scheduled to end in mid-February in Washington, D.C., where they will ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday. Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.

“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.

Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they — and their dog, Aloka — have racked up millions of followers online. On Saturday, thousands thronged in Columbia, South Carolina, where the monks chanted on the steps of the State House and received a proclamation from the city's mayor, Daniel Rickenmann.

At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce joined the crowd lining Main Street. She had driven four hours from her village of Little River, and teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.

“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening in our country every day,” said Pearce, who describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture and yet they radiate peace.”

Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometer) trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.

Their journey has not been without peril. On Nov. 19, as the monks were walking along U.S. Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas, their escort vehicle was hit by a distracted truck driver, injuring two monks. One of them lost his leg, reducing the group to 18.

This is Pannakara's first trek in the U.S., but he's walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day journey across India in 2022 where he first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means divine light in Sanskrit.

Then a stray, the dog followed him and other monks from Kolkata in eastern India all the way to the Nepal border. At one point, he fell critically ill and Pannakara scooped him up in his arms and cared for him until he recovered. Now, Aloka inspires him to keep going when he feels like giving up.

“I named him light because I want him to find the light of wisdom,” Pannakara said.

The monk's feet are now heavily bandaged because he's stepped on rocks, nails and glass along the way. His practice of mindfulness keeps him joyful despite the pain from these injuries, he said.

Still, traversing the southeast United States has presented unique challenges, and pounding pavement day after day has been brutal.

“In India, we can do shortcuts through paddy fields and farms, but we can’t do that here because there are a lot of private properties,” Pannakara said. “But what’s made it beautiful is how people have welcomed and hosted us in spite of not knowing who we are and what we believe.”

In Opelika, Alabama, the Rev. Patrick Hitchman-Craig hosted the monks on Christmas night at his United Methodist congregation.

He expected to see a small crowd, but about 1,000 people showed up, creating the feel of a block party. The monks seemed like the Magi, he said, appearing on Christ’s birthday.

“Anyone who is working for peace in the world in a way that is public and sacrificial is standing close to the heart of Jesus, whether or not they share our tradition,” said Hitchman-Craig. “I was blown away by the number of people and the diversity of who showed up.”

After their night on the church lawn, the monks arrived the next afternoon at the Collins Farm in Cusseta, Alabama. Judy Collins Allen, whose father and brother run the farm, said about 200 people came to meet the monks — the biggest gathering she’s ever witnessed there.

“There was a calm, warmth and sense of community among people who had not met each other before and that was so special,” she said.

Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in Washington, plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, as a national holiday.

“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.

But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.

The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.

Pannakara has told the gathered crowds that they don't aim to convert people to Buddhism.

Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.

“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”

On Thursday, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.

“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”

Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.

“Today is my peaceful day.”

Freelance photojournalist Allison Joyce contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.