PARIS (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who met with several party leaders on Thursday, could be nearing a deal on a cabinet, French media said, two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron named him to the post.
Barnier, the European Union's former Brexit negotiator, has struggled to name a new government, underlining the complicated topography of France's political landscape after Macron's ill-fated decision to call a snap legislative election this summer.
The vote delivered an unruly hung parliament that has left political unity hard to come by.
Citing comments by former prime minister Gabriel Attal to his party after meeting with Barnier, BFM TV said there was a deal on a government of 16 ministers and 22 junior ministers, from centrist and conservative parties.
Neither Attal nor Barnier made any comment.
Even if a preliminary deal is confirmed, it would still require the approval of French President Emmanuel Macron, whom French media said Barnier would meet in the evening.
Settling on a list of names to lead France's key offices of state has been challenging, particularly as the next government will likely have to administer a politically toxic round of spending cuts or tax hikes to improve the country's fiscal mess.
(Reporting by Zhifan Liu, Tassilo Hummel; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Conor Humphries)
