Seventy-three-year-old Michel Barnier, former minister of the time of the administrations of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, a former MP and MEP, former European Commissioner and mostly leading the negotiations between London and Brussels on Brexit, was appointed today by French President Emmanuel Macron as the new prime minister, the world agencies reported.
Barnier was tasked with this mission after nearly three months of political paralysis in the country. Now he will have to use all his diplomatic skills to lead a minority government that is not exposed to the risk of a vote of no confidence against him in the parliament at any moment.
Barnier is praised in Brussels for his qualities as a negotiator. His name was even mentioned to succeed European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in 2019, but in the end, Ursula von der Leyen was chosen then.
Barnier is a member of the French center-right party "Republicans". Before that, he was a member of a number of other Golist formations.
Barnier was born on January 9, 1951 in La Tronche, a suburb of the French Alpine city of Grenoble, and for this reason is often described as a "mountaineer", Reuters and AFP recall. He graduated from the Higher School of Commerce in Paris in 1972.
He was elected as an MP when he was only 27 years old. Gradually, he began to rise to the position of Minister of the Environment, and then Minister of European Affairs. In the period 1999 - 2004, he was the European Commissioner for regional policies, responsible for grants and subsidies in the EU, which make up a third of the European budget, notes Reuters.
From 2004 to 2005, Barnier was the foreign minister of France. Then he was the Minister of Agriculture. From 2009 to 2010, he was a member of the European Parliament. In 2010, he became European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services. It was in this position that Barnier negotiated new regulations for financial markets after the global financial crisis, including the unpopular reform of the City of London.
In 2016, the British voted in a referendum to leave the EU and Barnier was appointed by Brussels as the EU negotiator in the complex talks with London.
Barnier ran in 2021 for the centre-right nomination for the presidency, but never won it and dropped out of the running for the 2022 presidential election won by Emmanuel Macron.
Over the years, Barnier has built a reputation as a pragmatist, notes AFP.
"He is a man of consensus and negotiation, as it became clear during the Brexit negotiations, which is necessary even today, in the period we are going through," said the deputy from the "Republicans" Vincent Jeanbrun. The parliamentarian expressed his belief that Barnier as prime minister will be able to gather support for his government beyond his political camp.
France's lower house of parliament, which was aired after early elections in July, is divided into three blocs - left, center-right and far-right - and none of them can form a cabinet on their own without some support from the others. Or at least without assurance from the other blocs that they will not reject or block the work of this cabinet.
The senator from the "Republicans" Agnès Evren stated that Michel Barnier stands out with the so-called "Barnier Method", which "combines respect for the opinion of the interlocutor and firm personal convictions".
These qualities may have seemed attractive to President Macron, writes "France 24".
At the beginning of the week, other names were mentioned for possible prime ministerial candidates, but with each of them it was noted that the respective candidate would have trouble establishing himself even in his own political bloc. There were such findings regarding the mentioned options with center-left Bernard Cazeneuve or center-right Xavier Bertrand. The third possible candidate, Thierry Bode, was an expert with no political experience.
However, it is not certain that Barnier himself will be able to unite everyone even in the ranks of the center-right. Already today, a parliamentarian from the "Republicans", whose name is not mentioned, told AFP that "Barnier represents everything the French do not want". "He lives as if in the stratosphere, he is completely detached from people's problems and he will continue to behave like that and in the end he will kill the right," said the representative of "Republicans".
The fact that he did not win the party's nomination for the 2022 presidential vote even shows that the center-right is divided over Barnier, according to AFP. After failing to convince his fellow party members to nominate him for president, Barnier then made an unexpected right turn after years of a centrist line typical of the Gaullists. He called for a 3- to 5-year moratorium on immigration, but failed to convince supporters, according to AFP. But the idea of such a memorandum is something on which the extreme right agrees, adds Reuters.
Analysts called Barnier the "old wolf of French politics".
Those close to Barnier say that behind his calm exterior hides an anxiety-ridden personality who needs to consult advisers he trusts.
On the occasion of Barnier's nomination for prime minister today, the left, which ranked first in the parliamentary elections, conspired to steal a vote, reported France Press.
"The election of the French was stolen," said the leader of the radical left "Disobedient France" Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He described Barnier as close to far-right positions and called for the strongest possible mobilization during the planned protests against the president on Saturday.
Socialist leader Olivier Faure recalled that Barnier is a representative of a party that came fourth in the election, which shows that nominating him as prime minister is a disrespect for democracy, according to AFP.
The leader of the "National Assembly" Jordan Bardella assured today that his party will wait for Barnier's keynote speech before deciding whether to vote against his nomination. "We will insist on solutions to the most pressing problems of the French - purchasing power, security and immigration - and we reserve the right to take political action if this does not happen in the coming weeks," he said, quoted by AFP.
The deputy from the "National Assembly" Sebastien Chenou also told BefM television that the far-right party will wait to see what Barnier has to say about immigration and about reforming the French electoral system. Laurent Jacobelli, an MP from the same party, said that one of the conditions for the far-right to support a possible Barnier cabinet is if he then makes a commitment to dissolve parliament as soon as possible. According to French law, this could happen next July at the earliest.
As it seems, in general "National Assembly" is not particularly enthusiastic about the choice of Barnier, notes Reuters. "They pulled out of mothballs those who ruled France for 40 years," Jacobelli said of Barnier's choice.
In an analysis yesterday, Reuters commented, before the nomination of Barnier, that Macron was looking for a prime minister who would obey his wishes and not undo his landmark reforms. Among the reforms that Macron cares about the most is the pension reform, which, however, is met with strong public disapproval, the agency recalls.
Out of politics, in 1992 Barnier co-organized the Winter Olympics in Albertville. In this regard, he was assisted by triple Olympic ski champion Jean-Claude Killy, Reuters and France Press recall.
On a personal level, Barnier is married and has three children.