Macron named former prime minister Elisabeth Borne, 63, education minister in a new cabinet under centrist Bayrou.
Both Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot kept their jobs, the presidency said.
Conservative Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, and right-wing Culture Minister Rachida Dati, also stayed in their posts.
“I’m very proud of the team we’re presenting this evening,“ Bayrou said on X, adding his “experienced” government would aim to “rebuild trust”.
Bayrou had hoped to bring in figures from the left, right and centre to protect his government from possible censure, but his 35-member team does not include any representatives of the left-wing coalition New Popular Front, which has won the most seats in snap legislative elections this summer.
Left-wing politicians were livid.
Macron will gather Bayrou’s team on January 3 for a first cabinet meeting, the presidency said.
The unexpected comeback of Valls, premier from 2014 to 2016, as the head of the overseas territories ministry indicates the importance of the post after authorities were strongly criticised for their response to the deadly cyclone on the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, which killed at least 35 people.
Just before the official announcement, heavyweight right-wing politician Xavier Bertrand announced he would not be part of the government.
“The prime minister informed me this morning, contrary to what he had proposed yesterday, that he was no longer in a position to entrust me with responsibility for the justice ministry due to opposition from National Rally,“ Bertrand said.
The prime minister denied the far-right had influenced the composition of his government.
- ‘Government of last chance’ -
“Nothing can be done or decided behind the backs of eleven million French people,“ she said on X, referring to her supporters.
Bayrou was appointed on December 13. He is the sixth prime minister of Macron’s mandate.
Le Pen suggested Macron has been weakened by months of political crisis, telling Le Parisien last week she was “preparing for an early presidential election.”
In an editorial for Le Figaro, Vincent Tremolet de Villers wrote: “Macron-Bayrou, the government of the last chance.”
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