A loyal veteran of the recently renamed right-wing Republican Right party, Barnier has had a long political career bouncing between Paris and Brussels, having served twice as European Commissioner and also as the chief EU negotiator for Brexit.
After two months of political deadlock, French President Emmanuel Macron finally named his new prime minister, Michel Barnier.
The former Brexit negotiator’s nomination follows weeks of political wrangling, as parties on both sides of the aisle fought to bring their preferred candidate to the fore after July’s snap parliamentary elections.
At 73, he is the oldest prime minister of the Fifth Republic at the time of his appointment.
Barnier will now have to survive a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly, France’s lower house of the parliament, and navigate a political crisis.
His ascension to the office of prime minister would be the latest addition to a long and esteemed political career that has bounced between Paris and Brussels.
From humble beginnings
Barnier was born in the eastern alpine region of Savoie in 1951 in a family of leather craftsmen and left-leaning practicing Catholics leading a modest yet comfortable life.
He started his political activism at 14, joining the movement of Charles de Gaulle and quickly found a job as a ministerial advisor upon graduating from the prestigious École de Commerce Supérieur de Paris — a business school — in 1972.
He advised ministers for several years before deciding to get his hands dirty for real. In 1978, he was elected to the National Assembly as the youngest MP there.
After 15 years, following some time spent in Savoie to help organise the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, he returned to work for the government, this time as a fully-fledged minister. He spent two years on the environment portfolio and another two years as the minister for European affairs, a position that would later help springboard him to Brussels.
Issues such as the Maastricht Treaty, the creation of the euro and free movement across the bloc threw Barnier into the European spotlight: although he became a French senator in 1997, he ended up firmly back in Brussels when he was named as the EU’s commissioner for regional policy in 1999.
As one of the main figures shaping the European project, Barnier was also able to boost his profile back in France. In 2004, he was put at the helm of France’s foreign ministry and in 2007 he was named agriculture and fishing minister— two key posts in the French cabinet.
Brussels, Brexit and beyond
Then in 2009, he returned to Brussels, first as an MEP and then as Commissioner for Internal Market and Services — one of the most high-profile jobs in the EU executive.
From this lofty position, he mounted an unsuccessful attempt to become President of the European Commission in 2014 but lost out to Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker. However, a high-profile role of a different kind was just around the corner.
In a move that sent shockwaves across the EU, the UK voted to leave the bloc in 2016, sparking series after series of intense negotiations on the terms of the divorce.
Barnier was the man tasked with leading the EU negotiating team, a role that provided him with heaps of visibility both in the UK and in the Brussels bubble. His handling of roughly five years’ worth of Brexit talks, covering both the UK’s exit from the EU and the future relationship between the two, earned him significant praise and admiration in EU circles.
ADVERTISEMENTNevertheless, his eyes soon turned back to his homeland. In 2021, Barnier announced that he would stand in the French presidential election the following year, but ultimately failed to win enough support from the liberal-conservative Republican party, who instead opted for Valérie Pécresse.
A fragmented parliament
So now Barnier appears primed for the second-highest office in the land, much to the dismay of MPs and citizens alike.
July’s elections divided the National Assembly into three near-equal blocs: the left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP), Macron’s centrist group and the far-right National Rally.
With all three vowing not to work with each other, Macron was always going to struggle to find a prime minister who would be able to rally enough votes from MPs to carry the National Assembly.
ADVERTISEMENTJean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the French left’s largest party France Unbowed (LFI), said that Barnier’s appointment had “stolen” the election from the French people, seeing as the NFP ended up being the largest political grouping.
The National Rally’s Jordan Bardella reacted to the news by saying that the party “acknowledged” Barnier’s appointment after a wait “unworthy of a great democracy”.
While Barnier certainly appears to have his work cut out for him should he enter office, his first big task is shoring up enough support in parliament to make sure he survives the no-confidence vote and actually gets there.
