A veteran politician from the right-wing Republican Right Party (LR) party, 73-year-old Barnier becomes France’s oldest prime minister under the current Fifth Republic, founded in 1958.
He replaces Gabriel Attal, who became France’s youngest ever prime minister when he was appointed in January at the age of 34.
Born in France’s Alpine region of Haute-Savoie, Barnier went into local politics aged just 22. He was elected to parliament five years later in 1978, becoming its youngest MP aged 27.
In 1981 he voted against the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
During his more than 50-year political career, he has served as France’s minister of foreign affairs, European affairs, environment and agriculture, as well as an LR senator, and twice as a European commissioner.
A staunch pro-European, Barnier was the EU’s chief negotiator from 2016 to 2021, during which time he piloted the difficult talks with Britain over its Brexit departure from the bloc.
He drove a hard bargain during the negotiations, infuriating Brexiteers but winning praise from Brussels. According to Le Monde, he was even applauded at the time by the 27 member states, who praised his “art of consensus, his patience and tenacity.”
A moderate for most of his career, he took a hard line on immigration in his campaign to become the LR candidate in France’s 2022 presidential election.
Claiming immigration was “out of control”, he proposed a three- to five-year moratorium on people arriving in France from outside the EU.
As a former EU commissioner, Barnier will likely take EU compliance seriously, but convincing the left to rein in the budget while not raising taxes will not be easy.