At long last, President Emmanuel Macron has picked former EU Brexit negotiator and French presidential candidate Michel Barnier to become France’s prime minister on Thursday (September 5).

60 days since no clear political majority emerged from the snap legislative elections, and hesitation over who can seize control of such a fragmented political landscape, Macron announced on Thursday that he had settled on Barnier.

“The President of the Republic has appointed Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. He has tasked him with forming a united government to serve the country and the French people,” an Elysée press release reads.

In a conversation with Euractiv last week about the prospects of being appointed, he only said: “I’m not nervous at all,” refusing to be drawn on whether he had engaged in talks with the Elysée.

The announcement brings to a close a political saga that saw several names floated for the top job, strategically leaked by the Elysée to test popular reactions.

A long-time right-wing Les Républicains (LR) figurehead, Barnier was a two-time Commissioner, a four-time minister in various French right-wing governments, and a 2022 Presidential hopeful.

Once dubbed by UK tabloids “the most dangerous man in Europe,” the former technocrat also made a name for himself as EU lead Brexit negotiator from 2016 to 2021, coining the ever-famous line “the clock is ticking.”

It will now be down to him to put together a government capable of two difficult tasks: surviving a vote of no confidence and laying down a set of policy priorities that pleases parties from both sides of the aisle.

He will also need to get his house in order quickly enough to meet the looming October 1 deadline to presenting a budget bill in front of Parliament.

At the far-right’s discretion

The 73-year-old, who first entered politics in 1973 at age 22, will have to fight off accusations from critics that he lacks the political legitimacy to take on the top job, given that his Les Républicains (LR) party lost a third of their seats following the snap legislative elections.

But perhaps even more challenging will be to navigate the far-right Rassemblement national (RN) who, given current parliamentary arithmetic, now sit as kingmakers as Barnier sets out to form a viable government.

As the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) union has refused to throw their weight behind any right-leaning government, it gives the RN total discretion over whether, and how long, they choose to support Barnier by abstaining to vote in a vote of no-confidence.

“We will judge [Barnier by] his policy decisions and budgetary decisions, and his actions. We will make a case for urgent issues facing the French people – purchasing power, security and immigration – to be finally addressed, and we reserve all political means of action [if these are not taken into account],” RN President and EU lawmaker Jordan Bardella posted on X following the announcement.

Anti-RN, but hard right

Barnier, who his known for his serious and old-school demeanour, has said time and time again he would refuse to engage with the far right, accusing them in an exclusive interview with Euractiv in February of still wanting to leave the EU.

“I’d recommend not trusting them when [the RN] say they no longer want to leave the EU,” he said. “They know Europeans wouldn’t want that, but deep inside, they have not changed views, and they yearn to turn the EU into some mere international trade union.”

But in practice, his political views have often resembled and echoed those of the far right.

As a contender in the 2021 LR presidential primaries, he ran on a hard right platform, with a series of policies that would have marked a direct breach of EU law.

This included a ‘moratorium’ on immigration to freeze the arrival of immigrants in France – bar asylum-seekers and international students – and a ‘constitutional shield’ to  “lock down [French] migration policy and decide annual visa quotas,” his manifesto read.

He eventually came 3rd with 23% of the party vote.

First elected to the National Assembly in 1981, voting records show Barnier also opposed the legalisation of homosexuality.

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