PARIS:
French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Michel Barnier, the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, as his new prime minister on Thursday, tasking him with unifying France and ending the political paralysis that followed an inconclusive snap election.
The discreet, conservative politician will have the daunting challenge of trying to push reforms, and the 2025 budget, through a bitterly divided parliament, under the constant threat of a vote of no confidence.
At 73, Barnier is the oldest prime minister in France’s modern political history, taking over from Gabriel Attal, who was the youngest. It took Macron two months to appoint him, after the election failed to give any group a clear majority.
The left – which placed first in the election, but without an absolute majority – made clear they would be staunch opponents.
“The election was stolen from the French people,” hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said, calling for street protests on Saturday. Another hard-left lawmaker, Mathilde Panot, called it an “unacceptable democratic coup”.
Much will depend on the far-right National Rally (RN), parliament’s biggest single party, which indicated it would not block Barnier for now, but could do so later if a range of demands were not met.
“We will plead for the major emergencies of the French — the cost of living, security, immigration – to finally be addressed, and we reserve all political means of action if this is not the case in the coming weeks,” RN leader Jordan Bardella said.
Barnier is a staunch pro-European and a moderate career politician, though he toughened his discourse considerably during a failed 2021 bid to become his conservative party’s presidential nominee, saying immigration was out of control.
Barnier first became a lawmaker aged 27, and later held roles in several French governments, including foreign minister and agriculture minister, though he has been out of political office in France for 15 years, spending most of that time at EU headquarters in Brussels.
He is best known abroad for having led the EU’s talks with Britain over its exit from the bloc.
‘OUT OF MOTHBALLS’
Macron had considered a string of potential prime ministers in recent weeks, none of whom mustered enough support to guarantee a stable government.
French bank shares edged up, government borrowing costs fell slightly and the euro nudged higher, in positive signs from financial markets following the appointment.
Barnier’s political views are overall close to Macron’s, and it was crucial for the French president that his new prime minister not try to undo reforms pushed through over the past years, in particular pension changes that angered the left.
It remains unclear if Barnier will fully try to implement Macron’s political agenda or bring in new proposals. He will need in any case to negotiate with other parties to get legislation adopted in parliament.
As Macron’s hunt for a prime minister dragged on, public finances deteriorated and outgoing Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that tens of billions of euros in budget cuts are needed to plug the hole.
Macron’s gamble to call the snap parliamentary election backfired, with his centrist coalition losing dozens of seats and no party winning an absolute majority. Voters did, however, rally to deny the RN a victory.
RN lawmaker Laurent Jacobelli said a condition for not voting Barnier down would be that parliament be dissolved as soon as possible – which would be early July next year. Barnier should also signal support for a change to proportional representation to replace France’s system of two-round voting for single constituencies, he said.
He made clear the RN was not particularly enthusiastic about Barnier. “They are taking out of mothballs those who have governed France for 40 years,” Jacobelli told TF1.
