Appointed Prime Minister at the end of the suspense by Emmanuel Macron, Michel Barnier has a long career behind him. But it is in Brussels that he has really established himself as a leading political figure.
It is therefore official, Michel Barnier was appointed Prime Minister this Thursday, September 5, at the age of 73. If the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jacques Chirac never managed to establish himself as a leading political figure in France, the man took on another dimension after the European Union designated him “Mr. Brexit”.
Appointed Minister of the Environment (1993) under Mitterrand (during the second cohabitation), for European Affairs (1995) then for Foreign Affairs (2004) under Chirac, the native of La Tronche (Isère) will also occupy the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries under Sarkozy (2007).
But it was in Brussels that he would really establish himself as a leading political figure, like Jacques Delors. First in 1999, when he was appointed European Commissioner for Regional Policy. Then in 2010, as European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services. And finally in 2016 when he became chief Brexit negotiator.
To negotiate Brexit, “neither emotion nor passion”
Brussels was undoubtedly a necessary passage for the man who always made Europe one of the pillars of his commitment. “One can be a patriot and a European,” he liked to repeat in Brussels.
At the Commission, Michel Barnier doesn’t count his hours and chains together meetings and trips. “He’s a hard worker,” Olivier Guersent, Director General of the European Union’s competition services, told us in 2020.
“His secret: he does sports every day, he eats healthily and hardly drinks alcohol. He has a healthy lifestyle that allows him to have this energy.”
But on the sensitive issue of Brexit, he is trying not to show “emotion or passion”. On the other hand, he is keen to play the transparency card by regularly reporting to each of the member states on the progress of the negotiations.
His close friends are full of praise for his method: “In Brussels, he is appreciated for the seriousness of his work. […] He always made sure to involve all stakeholders. The bloc of 27 held thanks to him,” stressed Michel Dantin, mayor of Chambéry and former collaborator of Michel Barnier at the Ministry of Agriculture. “With Brexit, he took on another dimension because no one thought that we could succeed in the negotiation like that,” observed Olivier Guersent.
In 2020, “he did not want to pledge allegiance to Macron”
Across the Channel, Michel Barnier has not always enjoyed such a flattering image. After his appointment as European Commissioner for the Internal Market, he was presented by some British media as “the most dangerous man in Europe”.
Experienced and highly respected in Brussels, Michel Barnier was even at one time tipped to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the European Commission in 2019. “He would have had no difficulty in being elected president,” Michel Dantin believed.
But it is difficult for a Frenchman to obtain this highly coveted position without the support of Emmanuel Macron. To have his support, Michel Barnier would have had to leave the EPP political group and join that of the head of state, namely Renew, in the European Parliament. A form of betrayal that Michel Barnier was not ready for.
“He’s not going to change his mind at 70,” Olivier Guersent assured in 2020. “He didn’t want to pledge allegiance to Macron.”
Four years later, the two men finally met again and put their differences aside. And it is the national scene that is once again reaching out to Michel Barnier.
Paul Louis and Olivier Chicheportiche
