Michel Barnier

Michel Jean Barnier (French: [miʃɛl baʁnje] ^ⓘ; born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who was Prime Minister of France from September to December 2024. A member of a series of Neo-Gaullist parties (UDR, RPR, UMP, LR), Barnier has served in several French cabinet positions under the governments from Édouard Balladur to François Fillon from 1993 to 2009. At the European Union (EU) level, Barnier was European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services from 2010 to 2014 and vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP) from 2010 to 2015. From October 2016 to 2021, he was the EU's chief negotiator on Britain's exit from the European Union.

In August 2021, Barnier sought his party's nomination for President of France in the 2022 presidential election, but obtained third place at the 2021 The Republicans congress. In September 2024 President Emmanuel Macron appointed him to the premiership following the 2024 snap legislative election.

At the age of 73, Barnier is the oldest person to take office as prime minister under the Fifth Republic, succeeding Gabriel Attal, who was the youngest at 34. On 4 December 2024, three months into his tenure, his government was brought down by a vote of no confidence in Parliament. The following day, Barnier and his government resigned. Barnier was succeeded on 13 December by François Bayrou. His tenure as Prime minister was the shortest under the Fifth Republic until Sébastien Lecornu. In September 2025, he was elected to the National Assembly to represent Paris' 2nd constituency.

Barnier is a pro-European, Gaullist conservative. He has advocated for stricter controls on non-European immigration, expanding prison capacity and the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes.

Michel Jean Barnier was born at La Tronche in the French Alps, into a Gaullist family in 1951. His father, Jean Barnier, was a leather and textiles craftsman. His mother, Denise Durand, was a practising member of the Christian left, who founded a local chapter of the Ligue contre la violence routière [fr] (League against road violence). Barnier is the youngest of the couple's three sons.

In his youth, Barnier was a scout and choirboy. He graduated from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP) in 1972. During his studies at the ESCP, he was a classmate of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, future prime minister, and a member of the Conférence Olivaint, a student organisation intended to prepare members for political life.

Barnier served on the staff of various Gaullist ministers in the 1970s, before being elected in 1978, aged 27, to the National Assembly as deputy for the department of Savoie representing the neo-Gaullists, Rally for the Republic (RPR), serving until 1993. In the 1980s, he voted for the abolition of capital punishment and against reducing the age of consent for same-sex relationships to that of mixed-sex couples.

Barnier became the youngest president of the departmental council of Savoie in 1982, following a deal called the Union for Savoie [fr] between right-wing and centrist parties in the council. In 1992, he co-organised the Winter Olympics in Albertville.