French President Emmanuel Macron named Michel Barnier, the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator, as his new prime minister on Thursday, following weeks of stalled discussions following an inconclusive snap election.
Michel Barnier, 73, headed the EU’s negotiations with the United Kingdom over its withdrawal from the bloc between 2016 and 2021. Prior to that, the conservative politician served in many French governments and was an EU commissioner.
Macron had evaluated a number of prospective prime ministers in recent weeks, but none of them received enough support to ensure a stable government, and there is no certainty that Barnier’s government would be able to pass changes in a hung parliament.
But at least the far-right National Rally (RN), whose party is one of the biggest in parliament after the early July election, signalled earlier on Thursday it would not immediately reject Barnier, if he met certain conditions.
Barnier is a staunch pro-European and a moderate career politician, but he toughened his discourse considerably during his failed 2021 bid to get his conservative party’s ticket for the presidential election, saying immigration was out of control – a view shared by the RN.
Macron’s gamble to call the snap parliamentary election in June backfired, with his centrist coalition losing dozens of seats and no party winning an absolute majority.
The left’s New Popular Front alliance came first but Macron ruled out asking them to form a government after other parties said they would immediately vote it down.
Instead, he waited weeks to make his choice.
Even if the political paralysis were to continue despite the appointment of a new government, Macron could not call a new snap election until July next year.
RN lawmaker Sebastien Chenu told BFM TV that the far-right party would wait to see what Barnier has to say on immigration, and on changing France’s voting system.
Lawmaker Laurent Jacobelli, also from the RN, said a condition was that parliament be dissolved as soon as possible – which would be early July.
“The RN wants a prime minister who is committed to dissolving as soon as possible and establishing proportional representation (for parliamentary elections),” Jacobelli told TF1.
Still, the RN was not particularly enthusiastic about Barnier.
“They are taking out of mothballs those who have governed France for 40 years,” Jacobelli said.
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