Michel Barnier appointed as the new Prime Minister of France

The French President's Office announced that Michel Barnier, the former chief Brexit negotiator for the EU, had been named Prime Minister of France. This move ended two months of deadlock following the results of inconclusive parliamentary elections.

The 73-year-old Barnier's appointment comes after weeks of intense searching by Macron and his advisors for a candidate who could be able to forge loose coalitions of supporters in parliament and withstand potential attempts by Macron's adversaries to overthrow the new government that Barnier will now form and lead.

The President of the Republic has selected Michel Barnier as Prime Minister, according to a statement released by the Élysée Palace on Thursday. In order to serve the nation and the French people, he must establish a united government.

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.”

He will take over for Gabriel Attal, who stepped down on July 16 in the wake of snap legislative elections that split the country's parliament and caused political unrest.

Barnier, a forty-year veteran of French and European politics, has served in a number of ministerial capacities in France, including those of environment, agriculture, and foreign policy. In addition to advising European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he held two terms as a commissioner. Barnier declared his intention to run for president in 2021, but he was unable to secure enough endorsements from his party.

As prime minister, Mr. Barnier's first task will be to oversee the passage of France's 2025 budget; he has until October 1st to present a draft proposal to the National Assembly.

“I will have the opportunity in a few days, in just a few weeks, to state the major legislative priorities and proposals on behalf of the new government before parliament. It will be a question of responding, as much as we can, to the challenges, to the anger, as you mentioned, to the suffering, to the feeling of abandonment, of injustice that runs through our cities, our neighborhoods and our countryside far too much,” Barnier said, speaking alongside Attal during the transfer of power at Hotel Matignon, the prime minister’s office in Paris.

Barnier was first elected to parliament at the age of 27, having been born in a neighborhood of the Alpine city of Grenoble in January 1951.