Emmanuel Macron eyes Michel Barnier as France’s next prime minister

PARIS  —  French President Emmanuel Macron appeared poised to appoint the former Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier as prime minister on Thursday, in yet another attempt to break the political deadlock in France.

The veteran conservative figure is 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.

Barnier has served four times as a cabinet minister and twice as a European commissioner before becoming the head of the Brexit task force in 2016.

As first reported by Playbook Paris, Barnier was at the Elysée Palace late Wednesday, according to three persons with knowledge of talks who, like others quoted in this story, were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

The appointment of Barnier, who is a familiar figure in Brussels but less known at home, would end a nearly two-month-long search that has paralyzed the government since this summer’s snap election ended with a hung parliament. A caretaker government has run France since July.

Barnier appears to tick all of Macron’s boxes. As a conservative grandee, he would garner the support the right-wing Les Républicains party, but, at 73 years old, he would not rival younger allies with presidential ambitions.

Crucially, the far-right National Rally might abstain from voting him out, at least in the short term, a development that would give Barnier some margin to maneuver but also propel Marine Le Pen’s party as the kingmakers of any future government.

On Thursday, far-right lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy slammed Barnier as “a fossil that has been fossilized by politics” who “has done nothing but fail even on the EU stage.” But Tanguy refrained from saying that his party would automatically support a motion of no-confidence against him.

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. 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

The former Brexit negotiator emerged a front-runner on Thursday as talks edged towards an agreement this week between the French president and conservative leaders over the appointment of a right-leaning prime minister.

The conservatives, led by parliamentary group leader Laurent Wauquiez, wanted to keep their distance from Macron, but softened on Tuesday during talks with the president.

Wauquiez’s Les Républicains 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.

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. | Ludovic Marin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

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.

The pan-left New Popular Front, which secured the most seats in this summer’s vote but falling short of an absolute majority, will likely be furious. A government with the tacit support for the far right “would be a total negation of the parliamentary election that saw the French … massively reject the rise to power of the National Rally,” a statement of the left-wing coalition Thursday read.

Macron in July 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.