The Long, Hard Road Ahead for France’s New Prime Minister
The stakes are high and the coming winter will be cold
Michel Barnier, France's incoming prime minister, at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, France, on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergBonjour et bienvenue to the Paris Edition. I’m Bloomberg Opinion columnist Lionel Laurent. If you haven’t yet, subscribe now to the Paris Edition newsletter.
Michel Barnier, Emmanuel Macron’s surprise pick (and maybe his last) to help lead France out of fiscal and political gridlock, is best-known for two things: Negotiating Brexit on behalf of the European Union and organizing the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics. Both may stand him in good stead as he tries to form a government and draft a budget in the twilight years of Macron’s last term – with a frosty economic winter drawing in after this summer’s Paris Games.