Michel Barnier

Michel Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who served as the European Commission’s Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UK Task Force/UKTF) from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as Chief Negotiator, Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU (Task Force 50/TF50) from October 2016 to November 2019.

Barnier has served in several French cabinet positions including Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 2007 to 2009, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2005, Minister of State for European Affairs from 1995 to 1997 and minister of the environment from 1993 to 1995. He served at European level as European Commissioner for Regional Policy from 1999 to 2004 and European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services from 2010 to 2014. He served as vice president of the European People’s Party (EPP) from 2010 to 2015.

In August 2021, Barnier announced his candidacy for President of France in the 2022 French presidential election but ultimately failed to win sufficient support at the Republicans’ 2021 congress.

Barnier was born at La Tronche in the French Alps, into a Gaullist family in 1951. His father was a leather and textiles craftsman. In his youth, Barnier was a scout and choirboy. Barnier graduated from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris in 1972.

Barnier served on the staff of various Gaullist ministers in the 1970s, before being elected in 1978, aged 27, to the French National Assembly as deputy for the Department of Savoie representing the neo-Gaullists, Rally for the Republic (RPR), serving until 1993.

Together with Jean-Claude Killy, Barnier organised the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville as co-president of the COJO (Comité d’Organisation des Jeux Olympiques).

Barnier first joined the French Cabinet as Minister of the Environment following the Right’s landslide victory in the 1993 legislative election. In 1995, Jacques Chirac appointed him secretary of state for European affairs, serving as such until the defeat of the presidential majority in the 1997 legislative election. Barnier then served as a European Commissioner for Regional Policy in the Prodi Commission from 1999 until 31 March 2004. Then he served as Foreign Minister of France in Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s government until 5 June 2005 when Dominique de Villepin replaced him with Philippe Douste-Blazy. He considered he was unjustly sanctioned for the victory of the “No” in the French referendum over the European Constitution.

In March 2006, Barnier was elected vice president of the European People’s Party (EPP) for a three-year term. Under Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency, upon the reshuffle of the French cabinet, caused by the resignation of Alain Juppé after the 2007 French legislative election, he re-joined the French Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture. …

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