Barnier officially announced this Thursday evening on the French channel TF1. He was hinting at his participation in the elections some time ago. Barnier, 70, has enjoyed a long political career and has held various ministerial positions in France since 1993, including during the presidencies of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. In 2005, a year after taking office, he was sacked as foreign minister after France said he “changed” in the referendum on the European Constitution.

In 2009 Barnier became European Commissioner for the Internal Market. Despite his prominent positions, Barnier, a technocrat, was not very popular with the general public. As an unwavering negotiator on Brexit on behalf of the European Commission, fame came anyway. With that name, Barnier wants to present himself in April 2022 as the right-wing conservative alternative to centrist Macron, the incumbent president who would like to take on a second term. Macron has moved to the right since his election in 2017. Barnier will find Marine Le Pen of the populist National Rally to his right.

Republicans

Barnier’s party, Les Républicains, has long held power in France, but has gone through a political and electoral crisis in recent years. In contrast, it became the largest party in France’s regional elections in June this year. It should be noted, however, that one-third of the voter turnout was very low.

By the way, it is not yet certain that Barnier will be on the French ballot next year: his party must first choose him as a presidential candidate. So far, former Minister and MP Valerie Pecresse, former MP Philippe Goffin and parliamentarian Eric Ciotti, have registered their names in the primaries of the republican republics.