Michel Barnier, the man who led the EU’s charge against the UK in Brexit negotiations, has been appointed as prime minister of France.
The country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, named Barnier in the role early on Thursday afternoon – and has tasked him with forming a new government.
The appointment immediately prompted fury in France, with hard-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon urging his supporters to take to the streets in protest on Saturday, September 7.
While on the right, Marine Le Pen of the National Rally (RN) party ruled out being part of any Barnier-led government.
Barnier has previously declared how he has “never been enthusiastic” about Brexit
PA
But Jordan Bardella, also from the RN, said the party would “judge his general policy speech, his budgetary decisions and his actions on the evidence… and we reserve all political means of action if this is not the case in the coming weeks.”
In the UK, Sir John Hayes – the Conservative MP for South Holland and The Deepings, one of the highest-Leave-voting areas in Britain in 2016 – lambasted the appointment.
Speaking to GB News, Hayes said: “We thought we’d seen the last of ‘Monsieur Barnier’ after the Brexit negotiations – where he was determined to get Britain the worst possible deal.”
He called on France to “step up” and work with the UK to stem the tide of illegal migrant crossings in the Channel, urging togetherness to “stop the boats”.
Meanwhile, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told GB News the move “shows the desperation of France”.
He slated Macron’s troubles in finding an appropriate prime minister, and cautioned how the country now faced a “nightmare economic situation with a non-government”.
And Brexit heavyweight Nigel Farage had his say, too – he labelled Barnier “an EU fanatic that will suit sell-out Starmer”.
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Emmanuel Macron named the Brexit critic in the role early on Thursday afternoon
REUTERS
The move forms a push by Macron to put weeks of political deadlock to bed after his hastily-called snap election handed him a hung parliament.
Macron has been trying to manage a shaky coalition of French centrists and left-wingers since the election – which took place over two rounds between late June and early July this year.
Though the left-wing New Popular Front alliance came first, Macron ruled out asking the party to form a government after other parties said they would immediately vote it down.
In the announcement today, the president’s office said Barnier’s appointment had been made “with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people” in mind.
Michel Barnier becomes the new French Prime Minister. An EU fanatic that will suit sell-out Starmer.
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) September 5, 2024
The new French PM, replacing the youngest-ever man to hold the role, Gabriel Attal, is known on this side of the Channel for his outspoken Brexit criticism – despite his crucial position in negotiations.
Barnier has previously declared how he has “never been enthusiastic” about Brexit – and has claimed “nobody has ever been able to show me even the tiniest bit of added value” of leaving the EU.
At the start of 2023, he had insisted that the door for Britain to rejoin the bloc “will remain open any time”.
Barnier has also heaped praise on Sir Keir Starmer in the past, labelling the then-Leader of the Opposition a “European”.
He told LBC last February: “I think that Keir Starmer – as many, many politicians, even in the Tory Party – knows that to face some global challenges, we have to work at a European level.”