Macron appoints Michel Barnier as new PM, hoping to end political impasse

PARIS  — French President Emmanuel Macron has tapped former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as France’s next prime minister, the Elysée said in a statement on Thursday, ending a nearly two-month-long search that paralyzed the government. 

Barnier served four times as a cabinet minister and twice as a European commissioner before becoming the head of the Brexit task force in 2016. A conservative figure from the Les Républicains party, he is a familiar face in Brussels but less known at home.

“This nomination comes after an unprecedented cycle of consultations, and in view of his constitutional duty, the president made sure that the prime minister and its government will have the most stable conditions possible,” the Elysée Palace said in a written statement.

Speaking at an official handover alongside the now former prime minister, Gabriel Attal, Barnier attempted to differentiate himself from Macron’s previous premiers, stressing the need for “changes and radical shifts” and calling to “respect all political forces” represented in the French parliament.

“We are at a grave moment,” he said.

Barnier will now begin the arduous task of forming a government that won’t be immediately collapsed by a deeply divided French legislature. Snap elections this summer delivered a hung parliament, with the pan-left New Popular Front securing the most seats but falling short of an absolute majority. Macron refused to appoint the alliance’s candidate for prime minister, 37-year-old civil servant Lucie Castets, arguing that she was not in a position to govern with stability.

The pan-left coalition was predictably furious with the nomination. Its members had repeatedly accused Macron of subverting the will of voters and ignoring the results of an election he decided to call. But Macron in recent days appeared to be eyeing a right-wing prime minister to protect his controversial pensions reform, which the left had vowed to unravel if they came to power. 

Socialist Party head Olivier Faure said Macron’s decision to nominate a prime minister whose party finished fourth in the election was a “denial of democracy” in a post on X. “We are entering a regime crisis,” Faure said.

The veteran conservative figure was the latest name to surface in whirlwind negotiations this week. Former premier Bernard Cazeneuve, top civil servant Thierry Beaudet and conservative heavyweight Xavier Bertrand were all briefly rumored to be in the running for the job before being waved aside.

Pressure was building on the French president to break the deadlock with the French returning to work on Monday after the traditional summer break and ahead of a looming deadline for the start of the 2025 budget talks in parliament next month.

Barnier emerged as front-runner on late Wednesday, just hours before his official nomination. As first reported by Playbook Paris, Barnier was in talks with Macron at the Elysée Palace late that day, according to three persons with knowledge of talks who, like others quoted in this story, were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

It quickly became clear that the ex-Brexit negotiator ticked all of Macron’s boxes. As a conservative grandee, he had the support of Les Républicains, but, at 73 years old, he will be the oldest premier in the history of the Fifth Republic — and would not rival younger allies with presidential ambitions.

Attal, Barnier’s predecessor, was France’s youngest-ever prime minister. The 35-year-old will now return to the National Assembly as head of the pro-Macron Renaissance group.

Caution on the right

Barnier will depend on support from the centrist and right-leaning blocs in the National Assembly, but he does not have an absolute majority backing him. Together, the pro-Macron coalition and the conservative Republican Right group total 213 seats, below the 289 needed to have an outright majority.

Crucially, the far-right National Rally might abstain from trying to immediately vote him out. That would give Barnier some margin to maneuver but also propel Marine Le Pen’s party as the kingmakers of any future government.

National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said his party would wait to render judgement on Barnier until the new prime minister delivers the traditional presentation of policy objectives in the National Assembly. 

The government, Bardella wrote on X, ” needs to provide answers to the major emergencies facing the French: purchasing power, security, immigration.” Bardella also warned that his party could attempt to torpedo a future Barnier government if its demands went unanswered

Barnier, who was an unsuccessful candidate in the primary to become the conservative presidential candidate in 2021, is also seen as having views on domestic politics that are more compatible with the far right than those of some of his peers. The former European commissioner has in the past called for a moratorium on immigration. He triggered a media firestorm when he said France should regain its “legal sovereignty” and not be subject to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.

Parliamentary politics

A breakthrough in Macron’s hunt for a premier came Tuesday, when the French president reached a deal with conservative leaders over the appointment of a right-leaning prime minister.

Les Républicains lawmakers, led by parliamentary group leader Laurent Wauquiez, wanted to keep their distance from Macron, but softened under pressure from grassroots supporters not to hand over power to the left.

The party moved from a radical manifesto along the lines of “it’s our parliamentary pact or nothing,” to a more conciliatory approach, willing to reach “an agreement to talk with [the centrists],” a top official from Macron’s coalition told Playbook Paris.

But with talks at a dead-end with the left, Macron needs the tacit support of the far right as the centrist and conservative blocs fall short of an outright majority in the National Assembly.

On Tuesday, Le Pen laid down her conditions for abstaining from voting a motion of no-confidence: “respect” for National Rally lawmakers; proportional representation at the National Assembly; a tough stance on immigration and insecurity; and support for working classes in the budget.