France’s new prime minister is trying to court the left

There are two ways to look at the new French government run by François Bayrou, the 73-year-old centrist prime minister who took office last month and laid out his plans to parliament on January 14th. One is that the minority government is constructively seeking compromise among the three rival blocs that make up the deadlocked National Assembly, with particular attention to the left. The other is that it is opening the way to unravelling President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies, including his flagship second-term reform, an increase in the pension age.