The election of former European commissioner and Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has caused a stir in France but has been met with more measured reactions abroad, where he is no stranger – even if this meant overlooking his more recent Eurosceptic stances.

In France, where the president has more power than the leaders of neighbouring EU countries, prime ministers rarely arouse international interest.

But Barnier’s appointment as prime minister on Thursday (5 September) has caused a number of reactions from European leaders.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen immediately congratulated the 73-year-old.

The former Brexit negotiator has “the interests of Europe and France at heart, as demonstrated by his long experience”, she wrote on the X, wishing him “every success in his new mission”.

As a two-time European commissioner who famously led the EU’s Brexit Task Force 50, he must have got used to rubbing shoulders with EU leaders and, perhaps more importantly, key EU officials in top Commission posts.

These include Director-General of DG Competition Olivier Guersent, Barnier’s former head of cabinet when he was Internal Market Commissioner, and Director-General of DG Trade Sabine Weyand, Barnier’s right-hand woman in the Brexit task force.

Most importantly, Stéphanie Riso, the former director of strategy in the Brexit taskforce, is now the Director-General for DG Budget—a relationship that could be useful as France enters the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) and its public finances are in the red.

Former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier appointed French prime minister

At long last, President Emmanuel Macron has picked former EU Brexit negotiator and French presidential candidate Michel Barnier to become France’s prime minister on Thursday (5 September).

From Berlin with love

Barnier’s appointment was also widely welcomed in Germany.

Gunter Krichbaum, lead MEP on EU affairs for the CDU, the sister party of Barnier’s Les Republicains in the EPP, told Euractiv he was delighted.

“With him, France has a convinced and experienced European at the helm, who, as an EU commissioner, has successfully brought many seemingly deadlocked negotiations to a conclusion, for example, on Brexit”, he said.

“His election is a good development for Germany and Europe“, he added.

On the side of the SPD (S&D), the President of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly and leading SPD MEP on foreign affairs, Nils Schmid, told Euractiv that “by appointing Michel Barnier as the future head of the French government, President Macron has chosen a convinced European”.

He also praised Barnier for his political experience, adding that he sees “an asset for bilateral relations between France and Germany”.

Far-right holds power over Barnier government’s survival

Despite coming third in the snap legislative elections on 7 July, the far-right Rassemblement national (RN) holds new French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s fate in its hands and could decide at any moment to bring down the future government.

An EU-loving Eurosceptic?

The praise is all the more noteworthy in that it ignores some of Barnier’s more fiery and Eurosceptic comments, such as when he argued for national law to supersede EU law on migration policy when he was running for the LR primaries in December 2021.

Barnier’s Eurosceptic comments seem not to have crossed the Channel either, with many on the other side of the Brexit negotiating table still seeing Barnier as genuinely European and uncompromising on EU rules.

Barnier is not hostile to the UK, and contrary to what Brexiteers believe, he is even Anglophile to a certain extent, said former Labour MEP Richard Corbett.

“Barnier will be a voice ready to push back the UK position if it compromises the EU’s integrity”, Jim Brunsden, head of the macropolitical team at FleishmanHillard Brussels, told Euractiv.

Besides overlooking Barnier’s more recent Eurosceptic comments, those commenting from abroad also failed to address the ‘kingmaker’ role of the far-right Rassemblement National in ensuring that Barnier survives the new hung parliament.

The Brief – Is Macron still the EU’s man?

While the absence of any viable coalition government in France, a situation lasting 50 days and counting, may be new for the French, it is not unusual in other EU countries. That said, the longer this continues, the more it stains Emmanuel Macron’s reputation on the EU stage.

In Macron’s Shadow

However, Barnier’s appointment still poses a paradox.

“An oddity to me is that Barnier’s forte is EU affairs, but Macron will want to keep primacy of French EU policy. And Barnier has not had experience as minister or député for the finances and budget which is going to be his biggest challenge, including keeping market confidence,” Lord Peter Ricketts, chair of the House of Lords European Affairs Committee, said on X.

However, while Barnier may not succeed in escaping the shadow of the very powerful French president, Philipp Lausberg, a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre, believes the former commissioner’s influence on French foreign policy should not be overstated.

“His main preoccupation will certainly be the budget and holding a coalition together”, said Corbett, who also believes Barnier will focus mainly on national issues.

Even on EU-UK relations – Barnier’s forte – Corbett said he does not see Barnier’s nomination immediately impacting relations with the UK, even if UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has shown he is keen to rekindle relations with the bloc.

“In any case, when it comes to the EU-UK relation, it is up to the Council, which, in the case of France, means Macron more than Barnier”, he added.

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