France edged closer to having a new government, more than two months after a hung election, as new Prime Minister Michel Barnier's office said he had pulled together a list of ministers he will submit to President Emmanuel Macron later on Thursday.

Before appointing Barnier, Macron rejected the left-wing alliance’s proposed candidate for prime minister, Lucie Castets. Barnier’s cabinet, if approved, would mark a shift to the right from the previ

France’s new prime minister finally submitted a new government to Emmanuel Macron Thursday with the top post of interior ministry going to the Right-wing Republicans party. The French president’s loyalists picked up many of the remaining positions in a move that enraged the opposition Left-wing alliance that came first in July snap elections.

Michel Barnier has become France’s favourite political figure, according to a surprise new poll, in a boost to the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator two weeks after president Emmanuel Macron appointed him prime minister.

France may be one step closer to government, but Michel Barnier faces a difficult balancing act. And then, almost 60 days after a poll that delivered an inconclusive victory for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance,