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”.

READ MORE: What you should know about Michel Barnier and how he’d like to change France

But “there will also be change”, said the member of the right-wing Les Republicains (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” with Barnier with dismay, and will now seek to topple him with a no-confidence motion.

READ MORE: What happens next in France after Macron finally names new PM?

Controversially, the president appears to be counting on the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) of Marine Le Pen to keep Barnier in power by voting against such a motion.

Macron’s decision comes under the gun of a deadline to submit a draft 2025 budget for France’s strained government finances before October 1.

Barnier’s “task looks tough, but difficulty has never scared him”, said former prime minister Edouard Philippe, who announced earlier this week that he would seek to succeed Macron in 2027 presidential elections.

After the July elections, Macron drew out the appointment of a new prime minister for a period unprecedented since World War II, through the July-August Olympic Games and beyond.