New France PM Barnier promises 'change' as he takes office

France's new right-wing Prime Minister Michel Barnier promised Thursday to address the grievances of the French but also implement "change" as he took office following almost two months of political deadlock.

President Emmanuel Macron tasked the 73-year-old veteran politician with forming a government earlier in the day, seeking to move forward after July snap elections in which his centrist alliance lost its relative majority in parliament.

Barnier, the European Union's former Brexit negotiator and an ex-foreign minister, is the oldest premier in the history of modern France.

He takes over from 35-year-old Gabriel Attal, a man less than half his age who served only eight months in office during a period of political turbulence unprecedented in recent times in France.

At a handover ceremony, Barnier said the priorities of his government would include "responding, as much as we can, to the challenges, to the angers, to the suffering" of French people.

He said that education, security, and "immigration control" would remain at the top of the agenda, and that he would be unafraid to speak the truth on tough issues such as the country's "financial debt."

But "there will also be change," said the member of the right-wing Republicans (LR) party who is not affiliated with the president's centrist faction.

A left-wing coalition emerged as France's biggest political force after the elections earlier this summer, but without enough seats for an overall majority in an imbroglio that has taken weeks to unravel.

Macron's centrist faction and the far right make up the two other major groups in the National Assembly, with the RN as the single largest party.

The left has greeted Macron's move towards "cohabitation"...