Macron names ex Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, 73, as new French PM
Former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier was today announced as France’s new Prime Minister.
The 73-year-old will take over following almost two months of political stalemate caused by parliamentary elections that failed to produce a majority party in the National Assembly.
This has persuaded President Emmanuel Macron to call on Mr Barnier, a highly experienced technocrat who is not a serving elected MP.
An official at Matignon, the prime minister’s official residence in Paris, said on Thursday afternoon: ‘Michel Barnier has been named prime minister by President Macron.’
The appointment means that Mr Barnier will become the oldest prime minister in the history of the 5th Republic.
Michel Barnier, 73, was today announced as France’s new Prime Minister
Barnier pictured with Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee palace in Paris, on January 31, 2020, a few hours before Britain officially left the European Union
And he will be taking over from the youngest PM, Gabriel Attal, who is 35.
Mr Barnier immediately faces the possibility of a no-confidence vote in parliament, because of his apparent lack of democratic legitimacy.
He was last in parliament in 1993, and is currently a member of The Republicans (LR) party – the current name for the Gaullist conservatives, who are in opposition.
Pressure has been building on President Macron to appoint a prime minister after a coalition led by his Renaissance party came second in a snap election in early July.
It was won by the Popular Front – a Lefist coalition specifically aimed at keeping the far-Right National Rally party from gaining power.
Mr Barnier did not emerge as a serious candidate to run a new French government until Thursday, when he was seen at the Elysee Palace.
He tried to become LR’s presidential candidate in 2022, but was eliminated in the first round of party voting with less than 5% of the vote.
During the campaign, he took a hard line on immigration, saying it was ‘out of control,’
There is a looming deadline for France to start 2025 budget discussions, at a time when the country is under severe criticism from the EU for overspending.
On Thursday, Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a National Rally MP, said Mr Barnier represented the ‘fossilised old world’, accusing the Élysée Palace of ‘going down the Jurassic Park’.
