French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed former minister and former European Commissioner Michel Barnier, a member of the conservative political family, to the post of new prime ministerafter a series of consultations marked by the absence of consensus.
The Elysée Palace acknowledged in a statement that it had been “an unprecedented cycle of consultations” during which Macron, in the name of his “constitutional duty”, tried to find a candidate and a government that would manage to gather the greatest possible number of supporters in Parliament.
Barnier is now called upon to form a “group government” in the service of the country and the French people”, which opens the door to the inclusion of members from diverse backgrounds. It should be noted that no political bloc has a majority in the National Assembly, marked by polarization after the legislative elections in July.
At 73, Barnier becomes the longest serving prime minister of the Fifth French Republic and succeeds the youngest, Gabriel Attal, who took office in early 2024 at the age of 34.
A conservative profile
Michel Barnier takes up the challenge after a scene far from the front line, even though in 2022 he ran for president, where he expressed particularly tough positions on immigration policy. Previously, he had been in charge of negotiating Brexit on behalf of the European Commission, after a political career in France during which he had been part of the governments of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.
With his nomination, Macron is opting for a candidate with a clearly conservative profile, after having made it clear after the first round of contacts that he would not choose anyone from the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) despite the electoral victory of this bloc. The president has stated that a person in this field would be immediately rejected by the Assembly.
In recent days, other names have been heard like former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and conservative regional leader Xavier Bertrand, but neither has finished getting closer. According to French public television, Barnier’s appointment was forged during a dinner Wednesday with Macron.
