Michel Barnier is named as France's new prime minister
The EU's former chief Brexit negotiator was selected for the role by President Macron
Michel Barnier will be best-known to Britons for his role as the chief Brexit negotiator for the EU after the UK’s vote to leave the Union
Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock
The EU's former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has been named as France's new prime minister by President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Barnier became the favourite in the morning of September 5, ahead of former suggestions Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region, and former prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
He will be well-known to Britons for his role as the chief Brexit negotiator for the EU after the UK’s vote to leave the Union.
However, the announcement of a new prime minister does not constitute an entire new government – Mr Barnier will have the task of forming a group that can push bills through the Assemblée nationale despite having no clear governing majority.
His government is highly likely to suffer motions of no confidence tabled by opponents.
Mr Barnier will be prime minister from 18:00 on September 5, according to media reports.
Who is Michel Barnier?
Aged 73, he was born near Grenoble
He is a loyal right-winger, and has been on this ‘side’ for almost 50 years
He was a Member of Parliament from 1978 to 1993, a Member of the European Parliament, and a Senator. He was first elected as an MP in France at the age of 27
He was the co-organiser for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville (Savoie)
He was Minister for the Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, then Minister for European Affairs, and Foreign Affairs (during the governments of Presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy)
He entered the presidential election nomination race in 2022 presidential election, for Les Républicains (LR) and eventually came third, with 23.9% of the vote, behind Éric Ciotti and Valérie Pécresse
He was also once suggested as the head of the LR list for the European elections, but François-Xavier Bellamy took that role in the end
He was recently most notably European Commissioner on two occasions, and played a crucial role in regulating the financial markets after the 2008 economic crisis, within the European banking union
He also served as Europe’s chief negotiator in the run-up to Brexit
Michel Barnier was the ‘youngest’ person to hold many positions early in his career, including: France's youngest general councillor at the age of 22, (1973); the youngest member of parliament at age 27, and the youngest chairman of the Savoie departmental council
Policies and beliefs
Mr Barnier once said that he was in favour of “regaining legal sovereignty so that we are no longer subject to the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union or the European Court of Human Rights”.
This provoked much backlash in Brussels, where the former Commissioner was accused of “cynicism and demagoguery”.
But Mr Barnier said that on the contrary, his experience in European affairs meant that he was in a strong position to understand and criticise the dysfunctions of the EU and attempt to remedy them, “to avoid another Brexit”, he said.
Despite being involved in politics for decades, he has managed to avoid any major scandals or crises, including most right-wing in-fighting.
Read also: Immigration, EU, pay: What are PM Michel Barnier's known policies?
Opposition reaction: ‘The election has been stolen’
The reaction to Mr Macron’s announcement has been swift, and highly critical.
“The election has been stolen,” leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has said.
Just before the announcement, Mathilde Panot, leader of the LFI MPs in the National Assembly, said: “[Macron] continues to see himself as an autocrat. By appointing Michel Barnier, the President is refusing to respect the sovereignty of the people and the choice made at the ballot box.”
She called for people to move “against this coup de force, which is unacceptable in a democracy”, and reiterated calls for protests on September 7.
‘Throwing names at the press’
Even before the announcement, President Macron had been criticised by political opponents for his perceived slow decision-making to appoint a new prime minister, and for “throwing names at the press”.
It has taken 51 days since the resignation of the former government, headed by Gabriel Attal, for a new prime minister to be appointed.
The Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) won the most seats in the legislative elections on July 7, but not enough to form an absolute majority. Their nomination for prime minister, senior civil servant Lucie Castets, was rejected by the president.
Read more: President Macron rejects left-wing coalition's nomination for French PM
Read also: Far-left threaten to impeach Macron for 'refusal to act on legislative results'
This prompted the NFP to propose a bill to impeach Mr Macron (alongside their calls for a protest on September 7).
The text has been signed by 72 MPs from La France Insoumise, as well as other MPs from the left.
It states: “Faced with President Emmanuel Macron's refusal to appoint a prime minister from the coalition that came out on top in the legislative elections on 7 July, the authors of this motion for a resolution would like Parliament to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the Republic.
“This refusal [to appoint Lucie Castets] is unprecedented in the history of our last two republics,” the text continues. “It is without equal in any of the nations of the European Union, which everywhere entrusts the first party, even if it is a minority, with the task of forming their government.”
The proposal denounced the move as a “coup de force unprecedented in the history of the institutions of the French Republic since 1877”.
