Biography
Michel Barnier is a French politician who was prime minister of France from September to December 2024 and is best known as the European Union's chief negotiator for Brexit. Born in 1951 at La Tronche in the Alps into a Gaullist family, he graduated from the ESCP business school in Paris in 1972 and worked for several Gaullist ministers.
Elected to the National Assembly for Savoie in 1978 at 27, he also became president of the department's general council in 1982 and co-organised the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. He was minister of the environment from 1993 and minister for European affairs from 1995, then went to Brussels as European commissioner for regional policy. He returned as foreign minister in 2004–2005 and as minister of agriculture under Nicolas Sarkozy, before serving again in the Commission in charge of the internal market from 2010 to 2014.
From 2016 he led the Commission's task force for the negotiations on the United Kingdom's withdrawal and then on the post-Brexit trade agreement, concluded at the end of 2020. After an unsuccessful bid for his party's 2022 presidential nomination, Emmanuel Macron appointed him prime minister in September 2024. His minority government fell to a no-confidence vote in December, the first to do so since 1962, and in 2025 he was elected deputy for a Paris constituency.
Offices held
Gabriel Attal Succeeded by
François Bayrou
Affiliations
Party membership
- Nov 26, 1967 – Dec 5, 1976 Union of Democrats for the Republic
- Dec 5, 1976 – Sep 21, 2002 Rally for the Republic
- Nov 17, 2002 – May 30, 2015 Union for a Popular Movement
- from May 30, 2015 The Republicans (France)
Education
- ESCP Business School École supérieure de commerce de Paris (ESCP)
