Michel Barnier to run in French presidential election

Michel Barnier said that limiting immigration would be a key policy pledge. Photograph: ReutersAgence France-PresseThu 26 Aug 2021 20.54 BST

The EU’s former chief negotiator on Brexit, Michel Barnier, plans to stand as a right-wing candidate against Emmanuel Macron in next year’s French presidential elections, saying that limiting immigration would be a key policy pledge.

“In these grave times, I have taken the decision and have the determination to stand … and be the president of a France that is reconciled, to respect the French and have France respected,” he told the evening news show of TF1 television in a live interview.

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Barnier, who is entering an increasingly crowded field on the right, cited his long experience in politics as giving him an edge in the race including the “extraordinary” negotiations to find a deal on Britain’s exit from the European Union. He said during the years-long process he had to work “with heads of state and government to preserve the unity of all the European countries”.

Asked why he wanted to challenge Macron – with whom he had worked closely in the Brexit process – Barnier replied that he wanted to “change the country”.

Seeking to strike a more right-wing tone than the centrist president, he spoke of needing to “restore the authority of the state” as well as “limit and have control over immigration”, reaffirming a proposal for a moratorium on immigration.

Before becoming the Brexit chief negotiator in 2016, Barnier had served as EU commissioner for the internal market from 2010-2014. But the 70-year-old is also a veteran of French politics, having held several top posts including foreign minister in a cabinet career dating back to the 1990s.

Barnier is a member of the right-wing the Republicans and the most prominent of four candidates from the party to have declared their intention to stand. The party may organise a primary later this year if no obvious frontrunner emerges.

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