Factbox-Key facts on Michel Barnier, France's new prime minister

Reuters
Updated ·1 min read
FILE PHOTO: Michel Barnier, former EU chief negotiator and Les Republicains party presidential primary candidate, in Paris

PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron appointed the European Union's former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as his new prime minister on Thursday in a bid to end political paralysis following an inconclusive snap election.

Here are a few key facts about Barnier:

* 1951 - Born Jan. 9 in La Tronche, a suburb of the French Alpine city of Grenoble.

* 1978 - Elected to parliament aged 27, representing the Gaullist, centre-right Savoie district.

* 1992 - Co-organiser of Winter Olympics held at Albertville in his constituency, an event still central to his public image.

* 1993-95 - Environment minister.

* 1995-97 - France's Europe minister.

* 1999-2004 - EU regional policy commissioner, responsible for grants and subsidies accounting for a third of Union's budget.

* 2004-05 - Foreign minister.

* 2007-09 - Agriculture minister.

* 2009-10 - EU lawmaker.

* 2010-14 - EU commissioner for internal market and services. Negotiated extensive new regulation of financial markets after the global crash, including reforms unpopular in the City of London.

* 2016 - Named EU's Brexit negotiator after Britain's referendum on leaving the bloc.

* 2021 - Failed in a bid to get his conservative party's nomination for the 2022 presidential election.

(Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Gareth Jones)

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