Former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier appointed new French prime minister

Michel Barnier, former Brexit negotiator, has been named as France's new prime minister, as John Ray reports

Former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has been named as France's new prime minister.

France has been in a state of flux since President Emmanuel Macron's party lost its majority in parliament, leading him to spend weeks trying to find a candidate who can build loose groupings of backers and survive attempts from opponents to topple the new government.

A statement from Macron's office announcing Barnier's appointment said he'd been tasked “with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people.”

The statement said: “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.

He was the European Union’s chief negotiator in the difficult talks with Britain over its Brexit departure from the bloc.

Barnier replaces Gabriel Attal, who resigned on July 16 following quick-fire legislative elections that produced a divided and hung parliament, plunging France into political turmoil.

But Macron kept Attal and his ministers on in a caretaker capacity, handling day-to-day affairs, so political instability wouldn’t overshadow the Paris Olympics, when France was in the global spotlight.

In political career over more than 50 years, Barnier has served as French foreign, European affairs, environment and agriculture minister - and twice as a European commissioner - but until now had never had a tilt at any leadership post, like that of president or prime minister.

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