But France’s previous government collapsed this month because Marine Le Pen’s far-right party and left-wing lawmakers opposed 60 billion euros in spending cuts and tax hikes in the original 2025 budget plan. Bayrou and new Finance Minister Eric Lombard are expected to scale back some of those promises, but the calculations are tough.

The foreign, defense and interior ministers from the government that collapsed this month return in Prime Minister François Bayrou’s new government.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou is running out of time to meet his self-imposed deadline to name a new cabinet that won’t be quickly toppled by a no-confidence vote in parliament.  A new team was widely expected to be unveiled over the weekend after Bayrou said last week he and President Emmanuel Macron would finalize their choice before the Christmas holiday.