The EU’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has been named France’s next prime minister.
Barnier, who served as Internal Market tsar in the Barroso Commission, is reported by the French press to have dined with French President Emmanuel Macron in the Élysée on the night of September 4, with the president confirming his appointment the following day.
According to Le Parisien, the logic behind Barnier is that he is seen as a “bland technocrat” who would not immediately be censured by the Left and Right — a trait allegedly not shared by the previous frontrunners, socialists politician Bernard Cazeneuve and Liberal Xavier Bertrand.
Le Président de la République a nommé Monsieur Michel BARNIER Premier ministre. Il l’a chargé de constituer un gouvernement de rassemblement au service du pays et des Français. pic.twitter.com/beWhuEh42L
— Élysée (@Elysee) September 5, 2024
His history in the Les Republicans also reportedly gives the French president hope that the centre-right party may be willing to enter a coalition with his Ensemble faction, shoring up his power.
Not everyone is happy with the appointment.
Even before being officially named as PM, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally was protesting the selection. Party MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy accused Macron of playing “Jurassic Park” with the selection, insisting that he and his party would work to throw out Barnier.
“We would censor anyone who further ruined France. So that’s a lot of people, especially when we’re constantly playing Jurassic Park by going looking for fossils that we’re trying to bring back to life,” he said.
“So Mr. Barnier is not only a fossil, but fossilised by political life. Everything he’s been able to do is a failure, even at the European level.”
The French left has meanwhile insisted it would vote to censor any government not led by its preferred candidate, Lucie Castets.
French President Emmanuel Macron has rejected a left-wing government, leaving French democracy in uncharted territory.
His announcement on Monday means the unpopular president's caretaker government has now been in place for 42 days, a record for the Fifth Republic.
At just 25… pic.twitter.com/YStD0kkg4c
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 27, 2024
