Michel Barnier, 73, is the new Prime Minister of France. With a wealth of political experience, he has already held several ministerial positions and is recognized for his European cap. Quick biography.
Appointed Prime Minister on Thursday, September 5, 2024, Michel Barnier had barely entered adolescence when he began his political career as an activist for the Gaullist party. His first mandate was local with a position as general councilor of the Savoie department in 1973. Michel Barnier was then just 22 years old, he who was born in 1951 in La Tronche in Isère. After his business studies, he worked as a project manager, and became a deputy at the age of 27. He was then the youngest deputy of the Palais Bourbon.
At 73 years old now, and after having accumulated records for precocity during his political career, Michel Barnier becomes the oldest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic. He beats the record ofPierre Messmer (71 years old). Michel Barnier also succeeds the youngest Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, appointed on January 9, 2024 at the age of 34. In 1997, Michel Barnier was also made a knight of the Legion of Honor.
Savoy firmly rooted in the body and numerous ministerial posts
Michel Barnier is above all a man of a territory, that of the department of Savoie, where he was a member of parliament, senator and also general councillor. He would thus play a major role in the successful organisation of the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville in 1992. The general public, however, knows him better for his various ministerial functions. His first portfolio was that of the Environment between 1993 and 1995, during the second cohabitation under François Mitterrand and with Edouard Balladur as Prime Minister. He would then be one of the ministers closest to Jacques Chirac, who first entrusted him with European Affairs between 1995 and 1997, an entry point to the prestigious Quai d’Orsay where he became Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2004 and 2005.
He would sign a resounding failure when defending the European Treaty of Lisbon in 2004. Jacques Chirac lost the referendum and Michel Barnier his post since he was not reappointed. This year 2004 constitutes for Michel Barnier one of his most significant setbacks. As a reminder, in 1981, while a member of parliament, Michel Barnier voted against the decriminalization of homosexuality for minors over 15 years old, just like François Fillon or Jacques Chirac.
His last ministerial post dates back more than 15 years, as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (2007-2009) during the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy. Subsequently, he returned to Brussels and was somewhat forgotten on the French scene where he is still seen today as a man of files.
Brexit: a recognized negotiator in Brussels
It was in the EU that his technocratic profile shone when, in 2016, he took up the post of chief negotiator of the European Union for Brexit. Michel Barnier established himself as a strong man in the negotiation with the United Kingdom, to the point of being praised by his European colleagues for his management of a 5-year-long dossier of talks, stages and muscular arm wrestling.
The Frenchman’s main mission was to prepare and conduct negotiations with the British government as part of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. Michel Barnier’s participation in Brexit officially ended on March 31, 2021. A few months later, Michel Barnier announced his candidacy for the post of President of the French Republic.
A defeat in the 2021 LR primary
In 2021, Michel Barnier positioned himself in favor of greater control over immigration in France. To achieve this, the candidate proposed a moratorium of three to five years three years ago. The principle: to put a stop to illegal immigration and take the time to evaluate, with hindsight, French migration policy. Michel Barnier intended to include other European countries in his project, in order to achieve, among other things, the definition of a common asylum policy.
In 2021, he ran in the LR primary for the 2022 presidential election. “Authority, dialogue, trust” was his mantra, quickly eclipsed by his controversial proposal on immigration. It was combined with the ambition to “regain our legal sovereignty”, even if it meant no longer submitting to the rulings of the EU, the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights in the lead. Outcry within LR, which saw this as his shift towards ideas close to the RN.
He will then try the idea of a “constitutional shield” that would have priority over the EU before falling into line behind the candidacy of Valérie Pécresse. The “joker” of the right had in particular the ambition of limiting and controlling immigration, decarbonizing the French economy and restoring work to its full value and central place in society.
Married, father of three children and great athlete
Married for 42 years to Isabelle Altmayer, a former lawyer who turned communications, Michel Barnier is living the perfect love affair and has always led his family life away from the spotlight. The couple had three children: Nicolas, Benjamin and Laetitia. The eldest, Nicolas Barnier, 33, is following in his father’s footsteps since he is involved in politics. A candidate on a Belgian liberal list in the 2019 European elections, he has been a project manager at the Presidency of the Senate since 2021. He is also involved in humanitarian actions in Haiti. Isabelle Altmayer works in the shadows. After being a lawyer for 10 years, she turned to communications.
A great sportsman despite his 73 years, Michel Barnier is a fan of cycling and swimming, sports that he practices almost daily, “to work the cardio“, as explained The Parisian.Michel Barnier is the youngest of three boys. His father Jean was the boss of a company manufacturing jewelry boxes. His mother Denise, a committed Catholic and feminist, founded the League against road violence in Haute-Savoie, after the death of one of her grandsons in an accident. A tragedy that, according to his relatives, forged the character of the politician. In the coming weeks, he will need to demonstrate this when forming his government, then in the National Assembly.