Ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who was ousted in a historic confidence vote on Wednesday, has made remarkable calm his trademark in half a century in politics, but enters as the shortest-serving prime minister in French history.
Brought in by President Emmanuel Macron in September to lead a minority government after inconclusive parliamentary elections, Barnier has often said that knowing how to “keep one’s cool” is key to managing the thorny task.
His “singing” was evident in his previous role as the European Union’s chief negotiator in Brexit negotiations with the British government.
He also kept his cool in parliament on Wednesday night, speaking just before the far right and hard left ousted his government in a historic no-confidence vote.
“I’m not afraid,” said the 73-year-old. “I have rarely been afraid in my political life.”
After just three months in office, Barnier will now go down in history as the shortest-serving prime minister since the Fifth Republic, France’s system of government since 1958.
Having previously served as foreign minister and two-time EU commissioner in Brussels, he is best known internationally for taking on the job of negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union on behalf of the bloc after the 2016 referendum.
Firm and polite in conversation, and highly respected by his team, Barnier has received significant praise for his leadership of the process.
Barnier, who hails from the Haute Savoie region of the Alps, first became a member of the French parliament aged just 27 in the 1970s and entered the government in the mid-1990s under then-president, the late Jacques Chirac.
‘Not a fun guy’
He often points to his Alpine origins when explaining his “methodical” approach to work, freely admitting that he is “not a fun guy” and that he has little time to “catch up” with younger colleagues in the Paris-centric world of politics.
When he replaced Gabriel Attal (35) in September, Barnier became the oldest prime minister in modern French history, more than twice the age of his predecessor, the youngest.
Some have dubbed him the “French Joe Biden,” after the American leader whose long career spanned a similar period.
Barnier said he accepted the thankless task of becoming prime minister as an “honour”, but also made it clear he had no desire to keep the job at any cost.
‘I don’t care’
Ahead of the vote of no confidence, he made it clear how little attraction he still has to the corridors of power.
“I am proud to serve, it is a great honor to be prime minister,” he said in a prime-time television interview from his elegant office on Tuesday.
“But the gold decorations all around us, the official limousines and all the trappings of the power of the republic? I didn’t care about them,” he said.
Asked about the no-confidence motion, he said: “I’m ready.”
One of his ministers, who declined to be named, said Barnier was “stability incarnate”, but a deputy who served under the previous administration called him a “huge disappointment” and “old-fashioned”.
Barnier wrote a book about Brexit, “My Secret Brexit Diary: A Glorious Illusion”, whose title already makes it clear what he thinks about the idea of ​​the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.
‘dignified’
Barnier steered clear of any indecent gossip in the published paper, but expressed his amazement at how his British colleagues handled the process.
“They didn’t understand the ramifications of what was really at stake here,” he wrote.
Barnier has largely disappeared from the French political scene after missing out on the Republican Party’s (LR) nomination to challenge Macron in the 2022 presidential election.
Barnier said he wanted to be remembered as “an honest man, a patriot and a European, serving his country with dignity.”
