France, Darnis: “Barnier is a man for difficult situations, but his appointment betrays his vote”

Michel Barnier “is the man for difficult situations, he is a moderate, a great negotiator and a great pro-European”, but there is a but…. with his nomination as prime minister it seems that “the message” that came out of the June vote has been betrayed, at least the second round, the republican pact against the RN. This is the analysis that Jean Pierre Darnis, professor of Italian-French relations at the University of Nice and of contemporary history at Luiss in Rome, makes with Adnkronos after the nomination of the 73-year-old former minister and European commissioner, a nomination that apparently had the approval of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.

“Until 2020-21, Barnier would have been a rather exciting choice,” comments Darnis, who defines the head of government in charge as “a solid, moderate figure, always faithful to the Gaullists, a great negotiator” as he demonstrated in the negotiations between Brussels and London on Brexit, but also lacking “that cunning, I would say malice that perhaps could have taken him all the way to the Elysée”. But then, the expert recalls, during the primaries for the right three years ago, on the issue of immigration he took a somewhat sovereignist turn, with points of convergence with the Rassemblement national because of which no one would have bet on his return to politics.

Up until the current situation: “While the maximalist left scored an own goal by insisting on the name of Lucie Castets, while the former socialist Bernard Cazeneuve insisted on a left-wing government” independent of Macron, the French president pulled the name of Barnier out of his hat, “someone who is not immediately censured by the RN”.

And in fact in Parliament Le Pen and Bardella could opt for external support, allowing the government to be formed – which at the moment could already count on about 230 votes out of the 289 needed – while the socialists at this point will have to choose. “Either they build barricades against a dangerous union between the center and the right with the external support of the far right – Darnis claims – or they accept a de facto government of national unity”.

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Which in any case betrays the pact that the parties of the republican arch had made before the second round of the legislative elections to block the road to the RN. In any case, in the opinion of the French professor, “there will be some form of cohabitation” with the Elysée, because in Matignon will sit “a prime minister of a different generation than the president, a Gaullist and not a man of Macron”. Relations with him are formally good, but Barnier does not forget that in 2019 the president did not support him in the race for the presidency of the European Commission, preferring Ursula von der Leyen.