The former European Commissioner was chosen by Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, September 5, to replace the resigning Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. A look back at his measures as a candidate for the Les Républicains party primary in 2021.
So he chose Michel Barnier. After two months of waiting and negotiations following his camp’s defeat in the legislative elections, Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday, September 5, the appointment as Prime Minister of former European Commissioner Michel Barnier, a member of the Les Républicains (LR) party. The person concerned, a former minister, notably for Foreign Affairs and the Environment, and a former senator from Savoie, was a candidate in the LR primary for the 2022 presidential election. Defeated in the first round, he then defended Valérie Pécresse against Éric Ciotti. What was the program of the man who defines himself as a “social Gaullist» ? Decryption.
On immigration: a repressive approach, a moratorium and a referendum
Michel Barnier had defended very firm positions on immigration and security.We can’t repair anything, we can’t build anything without security and if it’s the smugglers and the judges who decide who can enter France and who can stay there” he said to the Figaro in November 2021. The Savoyard, born in La Tronche in Isère, therefore proposed a “moratorium» on immigration from three to five years: this «pause» would be a «prior to taking back control of our migration policy“, he explained. With this in mind, the candidate wanted “stop unconditional regularizations of undocumented immigrants», «speed up the asylum seeker’s process“, tighten the criteria for family reunification, and reduce the issuing of long-stay visas.
He had also surprised, even shocked, even his own camp, by advocating a referendum to allow a return to a “freedom of maneuver” on immigration, thus suggesting that France should free itself from the rules guaranteed by the legal authorities of the European Union and the Council of Europe. Criticized, the person concerned had castigated “cries of alarm» and a «bad controversy“, and maintained that in matters of immigration, “If we don’t change anything, there will be other Brexits».
In economics, a liberal, in favor of retirement at 65 and a reduction in production taxes
The candidate for the 2022 presidential election promised at the time a “strict savings trajectory” for the state budget and a “debt control“. To stimulate the “return to work and activity, […] key to growth“, he recommended reducing production taxes by 10 billion euros, and lowering social security contributions on intermediate salaries, from 1.6 to 2.5 times the minimum wage – while planning to increase salaries in the “essential public services of health and education“. Follower of “courageous reforms“, Michel Barnier suggested “retirement at 65“, like Emmanuel Macron during the presidential campaign. He also proposed a “greater state efficiency” and local authorities, “in particular to eliminate all our administrative duplicates».
On the social, a critic of “welfare” who calls for “dialogue”
Reciting a classic right-wing mantra, the former minister said he wanted to “encourage work and merit, to the detriment of welfare“, in particular by suspending unemployment benefits”after two refusals of a reasonable offer” However, he declared himself “much more concerned” of social dialogue than Emmanuel Macron. He also said he wanted to fight against social fraud, particularly in health insurance, and proposed to do this by replacing all Vitale cards with biometric cards, in order to “save considerable amounts of money» by removing a «real nest of fraud».
On the environment, a plan for housing insulation and a revival of nuclear power
«We will reduce agricultural pollution with farmers, not against them. We will decarbonize the economy with businesses, not against them.“, said Michel Barnier, who proposed a “major national plan for housing insulation” The new Prime Minister also said he wanted to “relaunch“nuclear and investing in renewable energies, such as photovoltaics, biomass, hydraulics – but not wind”which does a lot of damage».
