Michel Barnier: from Europhile Brexit negotiator to Eurosceptic presidential candidate

Ex-colleagues ‘stunned’ by former EU hardliner’s pitch to replace Emmanuel Macron as French leader

Michel Barnier
(Image credit: Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP via Getty Images)

The EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator has shocked the bloc by calling for France to regain its “legal sovereignty” as he campaigns to become his Republican party’s candidate in next year’s presidential elections.

Michel Barnier is facing an “increasingly crowded field on the right” after announcing his presidential ambitions last month, with three other Republican candidates also vying to stand against Emmanuel Macron, said The Guardian. But while Barnier has a relatively low profile in his native country, his recent Eurosceptic rhetoric is winning widespread attention.

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