French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Michel Barnier as prime minister, tasking him with "forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people.”
A member of the Republicans party (LR), the veteran conservative heavyweight served stints as minister in four cabinet positions, including as minister of foreign affairs under then-President Jacques Chirac.
The politician was the chief negotiator on Britain's exit from the European Union (EU), earning himself the nickname of ‘Monsieur Brexit.’
He also served as a European commissioner twice, and made a failed attempt to win his party's nomination for the 2022 presidential election.
Sputnik took a closer look at Michel Barnier's positions on key foreign policy issues.
EU
Barnier has ironically said he wanted to see France “regaining legal sovereignty so that we are no longer subject to the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union or the European Court of Human Rights”.
He also said he would like to see a closer UK-EU relationship post-Brexit, but called Britain's exit from the bloc “nonsense” and a “lose-lose game” for both.
Ukraine Conflict
Weighing in on the ongoing NATO proxy war against Russia, Barnier insisted that “what is at stake in Ukraine is nothing less than our own values.”
“The feeling of being supportive of Ukraine is very strong,” among EU states, he said in a May 2024 podcast. He added that he personally advocated “a strong alliance with NATO and the US, but not allegiance.”
Barnier claimed that “Ukraine is a European country that defends its sovereignty and independence, whose democratic values are ours” in an interview with Politique Internationale magazine last year.
He stressed that there can be no ambiguity in the “support it deserves,” and France’s “solidarity” is shown by “supply of weapons.”
Barnier backed Ukraine's bid for membership of the EU, saying that “We are following a path, several stages of which have already been completed,” but cautioning that “there is no shortcut to becoming a member of the EU.”
Palestine-Israeli Conflict
Barnier called for EU, US and Middle East leaders to work together towards a peace process and a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine in a speech at the IBA Paris 2023 opening ceremony last year.
He said that the security and sovereignty of the state of Israel is “non-negotiable”, adding that “we stand on the side of freedom and democracy against barbary and terrorism”.
But he added that a “sustainable peace” in the Middle East under the diretcion of the United Nations “will only be achieved with the establishment of a Palestinian state.”