French President Macron appoints EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as Prime Minister

Updated September 5, 2024 at 12:42 PM ET

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron has named moderate, experienced politician Michel Barnier as the country's prime minister, hoping that the man who negotiated Brexit for the European Union will work to heal divisions within France.

Barnier's 50-year political career includes stints as foreign minister and EU commissioner. At 73, he is the oldest prime minister in modern French history.

His appointment came two months after early elections left France politically divided and without a single party with a majority in parliament (known as a parliamentary stalemate).

“[The president] has entrusted him with forming a unified government that will serve the country and the French people,” said a statement from Macron’s office.

But leaders of the political opposition appear to be far from united over the election of a man many of them see as an out-of-touch mainstream conservative.

Marine Le Pen, the far-right politician, called him a “fossil”. And Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left politician, accused Macron of ignoring the will of the French voters by not appointing a prime minister from the left.

In the parliamentary elections on July 7, a coalition of left-wing parties won most of the parliamentary seats. But no party has an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly. The French lower house is divided into three major blocs: the left, which includes Mélenchon's party, the center, which supports Macron, and the extreme right, which gathers around Le Pen's anti-immigration party.

“He stole the election from the French people,” said Mélenchon.

According to political analyst Dominique Moïsi, many believe Macron should have followed the will of the people and appointed a prime minister from the left-wing coalition. However, many commentators say the coalition is partly to blame because it put forward a candidate, Lucie Castets, who failed to gain widespread support.

“It would have been rejected by the majority of the National Assembly,” he says.

The French president was also criticized for taking too long to appoint the new prime minister. The previous prime minister, Gabriel Attal, resigned on July 16 but remained in office in a caretaker government for more than 50 days.

Barnier was not Macron's first choice, but Moïsi believes he is the first candidate with a chance of forming a majority coalition.

“Barnier is a compromise candidate,” says Moïsi. “He is a very experienced, moderate, pro-European personality who supports NATO and Ukraine. He is a personality who is acceptable to the center and the right and will not be immediately rebuked by the extreme right,” he says.

Moïsi says Barnier's pro-European stance is shared by moderate members of the Socialist Party, who may also end up supporting him. “We'll see,” he says.

According to Moïsi, Macron was also looking for someone he could control – and he may have found that person in the gentle Barnier.

Paris voter Pierrette Piedcoq says she doesn't know much about Barnier but is happy that there is at least one prime minister now.

“He waited more than 50 days before appointing a new government. We have never been without a government for so long,” says the 70-year-old, who says she loves politics.

Copyright: NPR