Within the European institutions, the appointment of Michel Barnier as Prime Minister on Thursday 5 September was first and foremost greeted with relief. The Savoyard, twice Commissioner (for regional policy, from 1999 to 2004, then for the internal market and financial services, from 2010 to 2014) and architect of the December 2020 agreement which has since governed post-Brexit relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, knows the Community machine like no one else, where he has built up an unparalleled network.
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Long disliked by his French political friends, Michel Barnier has always been able to reassure himself in Brussels, where his very European qualities are appreciated, so far from the arrogance of the hexagon. In the low points of his career, moreover, he has always been able to count on Europe to help him. Thus, in February 2015, after suffering a defeat in the race for the head of the Commission against the Luxembourger Jean-Claude Juncker at the end of 2014, and then having been refused an investiture by the UMP for the upcoming regional elections in France, he was appointed defense advisor to the president of the European executive.
Not very charismatic, not very interested in the technical aspects of the files, a bit laborious, the “mountain dweller”as he likes to portray himself, has this sense of compromise, little appreciated by the Ve Republic and so important when it is necessary to reach an agreement with twenty-seven, then with the European Parliament. When he negotiates, he leaves no one out. During the post-Brexit discussions between Brussels and London, which lasted four years, he always treated small and large countries on an equal footing, he travelled tirelessly to all the capitals. He reported on the progress of his work to heads of state, MEPs, national elected representatives, and even social partners with the regularity of a metronome.
“He is very Germanic, or Benelux”
“Barnier is very much a parliamentary democracy, from this point of view, he is very Germanic, or Benelux. This is not common for a Frenchman.explained at the time to Monde Belgian MEP (Greens) Philippe Lamberts, who has since left the European Parliament. He understood that in Europe, you should never crush your negotiating partner because tomorrow, he could be your ally.” This approach does not always arouse admiration – the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, treated him with great contempt when he was “Mr Brexit” – but it has proven itself in Europe. “If he does with the National Assembly as he did with Brexit, he will succeed”a senior European official comments today.
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