The Facts

• 1French Pres. Emmanuel Macron appointed Michel Barnier of the conservative Les Républicains party on Thursday to replace Gabriel Attal as prime minister in an attempt to break the longest political deadlock in the history of the country's Fifth Republic.

• 2Aged 73, Barnier is a veteran politician who served as French foreign minister, European commissioner in Brussels and EU Brexit negotiator during his half-century political career.

• 3The oldest premier in the history of modern France will now have to form a government that can survive no-confidence votes in the three-way hung National Assembly. If successful, his next challenge will be to submit a draft budget by Oct. 1.