 "Pro-European, anti-Brexit hardliner: Meet France's new PM Michel Barnier")
France finally has a new prime minister.
Months after the country held snap elections, President Emmanuel Macron has made his choice – Michel Barnier.
Barnier, 73, was the European Union’s Brexit negotiator as chief of the Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UKTF).
He is a member of France’s conservative Les Républicains party.
Barnier replaces Gabriel Attal, who was France’s youngest-ever prime minister and first openly gay head of government when he was appointed in January at age 34.
Attal resigned on July 16 following quick-fire legislative elections that produced a divided and hung parliament, plunging France into intense political uncertainty.
But Macron kept Attal and his ministers on in a caretaker capacity, handling day-to-day affairs, so political instability wouldn’t overshadow the Paris Olympics, when France was in the global spotlight.
But what do we know about Barnier? Why did Macron choose him?
Let’s take a closer look:
What do we know about Barnier?
Barnier was born on January 9, 1951 in La Tronche – a suburb of the French Alpine city of Grenoble.
As per The Week, growing up, Barnier was a boy scout and a choir boy.
He got his political start early – by 14 he was already a worker for the Gaullist movement.
In 1972, at age 21, Barnier graduated from the Ecole de Commerce Superieur de Paris business school.
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More ShortsHe then worked as a ministerial advisor for a few years.
In 1978, Barnier made history – becoming the youngest parliamentarian in France when he was elected to the National Assembly from his native Savoie district.
Barnier’s political star began to rise after he won a bid to host the 1992 Winter Olympics.
His role as co-organiser of Winter Olympics in Albertville was key to building his public image – and remains so.
Barnier would go on to spend the next few decades in France’s government.
He served as environment minister, France’s Europe minister, the EU regional policy commissioner, foreign minister and agriculture minister.
In 2009, Barnier served as a lawmaker in the European Union. The next year, he would be appointed the EU commissioner for internal market and services – a position he would hold for four years.
During this time Barnier negotiated extensive new regulation of financial markets after the global crash including reforms unpopular in the City of London.
According to The Week, Barnier ran for president of the EU Commission but was defeated by Jean-Claude Juncker
Regardless, the time served in the EU would serve him well when it came to his next assignment – as EU’s Brexit negotiator.
As per Prospect Magazine, Barnier’s decades of political experience lent him the reputation as a “safe pair of hands”, thanks to his extensive political experience, said Prospect magazine.
Politico called his performance “integral to the EU’s management of Brexit” and was praised by the European leaders for his “ability to create consensus and his methodical approach to the negotiations.”
Barnier’s performance as the EU’s negotiator also burnished his credentials with the opposition.
As per Financial Times, Nigel Farage, a vocal Leaver, at one point said, “I wish we could employ him.”
Barnier even kept cool when he was accused by the newspapers of infecting then prime minister Boris Johnson with COVID-19.
He suggested age and hikes in the French Alps had done their part for his demeanour.
“I’m not always calm, listen to my wife or children, but at the very beginning I decided to be calm,” Barnier said. “I knew it would be a weakness to be French and I knew that I would be in the fire of the tabloids. They were waiting for me to get angry. They tried several times.”
As per Sky News, Barnier during the talks described Johnson as a ‘bulldozer.’
As per The Times, his “hardline stance” in opposing Brexit and his “firm opposition to Britain ‘cherry-picking’ the terms of its departure” did not make him popular in the UK.
In 2021, Barnier launched a bid for the Les Républicains party nomination for president.
Barnier’s quest for his party’s nomination left many of his old colleagues in Brussels shocked at certain positions he took during the campaign.
As per Politico, Barnier called for “a referendum on the question of immigration” and added that France must regain its “legal sovereignty in order to no longer be subject to the judgments” of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.
“We have to rebuild the French influence. It is necessary to rebalance vis-à-vis the German influence which dominates,” Barnier, pushing for more French pull in Europe, said at a conservative party event.
His comments caused a firestorm in the EU.
“One wonders how a sentence like that can come from such a committed European,” Clement Beaune, France’s junior minister for EU affairs, told the website.
Barnier ultimately had to do a walk-back.
“Let’s keep calm,” he posted on X.
He added that he wanted to “avoid any unnecessary controversy.”
However, Barnier ultimately lost the nomination to Valérie Pécresse.
As per Sky News, Barnier has been a moderate and pro-European politician throughout most of his career – barring his failed 2021 presidential nomination bid.
Why did Macron choose him?
Barnier’s appointment comes after weeks of intense efforts by Macron and his aides to bring an intense period of political turmoil to an end by finding a government leader who can survive in France’s newly fractured political landscape.
The Élysée Palace on Thursday said Barnier has been “tasked with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French.”
“This appointment comes after an unprecedented cycle of consultations during which, in accordance with his constitutional duty, the president ensured that the prime minister and the future government would meet the conditions to be as stable as possible and give themselves the chances of uniting as broadly as possible,” the statement read.
Macron in recent days met three candidates – Xavier Bertrand, Bernard Cazeneuve and Thierry Beaudet – as well as consulted with former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande.
Bertrand, who lost out, is also a leader of the Les Républicains party.
Sources familiar with the developments told Financial Times that Barnier emerged as a more viable pick than Bertrand.
Barnier’s campaign for the party chief, in which he took a hard line on immigration, might make him more palatable to the right-wing.
Indeed Le Pen has hinted she is willing to give Barnier a chance but said her National Rally party won’t take part in his government because the new prime minister “does not share our ideas.”
She says the 2025 budget will be a priority for Barnier’s government; it faces a tight deadline to deliver one. France is also under pressure from the European Union to get its finances in order, with Brussels having rebuked Paris for running up excessive debt.
“Barnier is a man respectful of other political forces,” Le Pen said. “It’s important because compromises will have to be reached, considering the state of France’s budget.”
But influential far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon immediately came out against Barnier’s appointment and predicted the new prime minister would not get a majority backing in the bitterly divided National Assembly.
Melenchon said the appointment flew in the face of the July 7 legislative election results that left parliament’s lower house split between three main blocs — the left, including Melenchon’s party; the center where Macron has based his support, and the far right, converging around anti-immigration leader Marine Le Pen.
“The election has been stolen,” Melenchon asserted.
With inputs from agencies
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