Former Brexit negotiator named as France's new prime minister
President Emmanuel Macron has named the European Union's former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as France’s new prime minister.
The appointment of the 73-year-old Barnier follows weeks of intense efforts by Macron and his aides to find a candidate who might be able to build loose groupings of backers in parliament and survive possible attempts by Macron’s opponents to quickly topple the new government that Barnier will now put together and lead.
A statement from Macron’s office announcing Barnier’s appointment said he had been tasked “with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people”.
The statement added: “This appointment comes after an unprecedented cycle of consultations during which, in accordance with his constitutional duty, the President ensured that the prime minister and the future government would meet the conditions to be as stable as possible and give themselves the chances of uniting as broadly as possible.”
Barnier, a career politician proud of his humble roots in France’s Alpine region of Haute-Savoie, is no stranger to complex and difficult tasks.
