The French presidency announced Thursday the appointment of Michel Barnier as the new prime minister, almost two months after the snap parliamentary elections in which the New Popular Front (NPF) won without obtaining a majority in parliament.

Michel Barnier, 73, first became a minister in 1993 and has held three ministerial portfolios under the presidencies of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Macron refused to form a government from the New Popular Front, the left-wing coalition that led in the results of the early parliamentary elections.