Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up here. (We will be on a break for the holidays from Dec. 25 to Jan. 1 and return on Jan. 2.)

France forms a new government led by President Macron and PM Bayrou amidst political and financial turmoil. Challenges include crushing debt, pressure from far-right forces, and no parliamentary majority.

The foreign, defense and interior ministers from the government that collapsed this month return in Prime Minister François Bayrou’s new government.

French President Emmanuel Macron named a new government Monday evening, putting together a team under Francois Bayrou, his fourth prime minister of the year, to drag the second-largest EU economy out of political crisis.

The clock ticked Monday for French President Emmanuel Macron to appoint the fourth government in a year marked by a deepening political crisis.