Michel Barnier

Michel Barnier
European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 February 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Charlie McCreevy
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 31 March 2004 – 31 March 2005
Prime Minister	Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Preceded by	Dominique de Villepin
Succeeded by	Philippe Douste-Blazy
European Commissioner for Regional Policy
In office 13 September 1999 – 31 March 2004
President	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Monika Wulf-Mathies
Succeeded by	Jacques Barrot
Personal details
Born	(1951-01-09) 9 January 1951 La Tronche, France
Political party	Union for a Popular Movement (2002–present)
Other political affiliations	Rally for the Republic (Before 2002)

Michel Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and Vice President of the European People's Party (EPP). He served as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries on 18 June 2007, but resigned on 7 June 2009 after being elected to the European Parliament. He is the current European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services.

Career

Michel Barnier was born in La Tronche in the Isère département of the Rhône-Alpes région, in France. He graduated from ESCP Europe in 1972. Member of the staff of some Gaullist ministers in the 1970s, he was elected to the French National Assembly at 27 as a deputy for the Savoie département in 1978, under the banner of the Neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) and served in this function until 1993.

Together with Jean-Claude Killy he organised the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville as co-president of the COJO (Comité d'Organisation des Jeux Olympiques).

Michel Barnier and Boyko Borisov at the 2011 EPP summit at Bouchout Castle, Meise.

Barnier joined the cabinet for the first time after the large victory of the Right in the 1993 legislative election as Minister of the Environment. Two years later, after the election of Jacques Chirac as President of france, he became Secretary of State for European Affairs. He held this function until the defeat of the Presidential Majority in the 1997 legislative election. Barnier served as a European Commissioner for regional policy in the Prodi Commission from 1999 until 31 March 2004 having been made the Foreign Minister of France in the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He served in this function until 5 June 2005 when upon the establishment of the new government under Dominique de Villepin he was replaced by Philippe Douste-Blazy. He considered he was unjustly sanctioned for the victory of the "No" in the French referendum over the European Constitution.

In March 2006, he was elected Vice President of the European People's Party (EPP) for a three-year term. Under Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency, upon the reshuffle of the French cabinet, caused by the resignation of Alain Juppé after the 2007 French legislative election, he re-joined the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture. Considered as one of the main right-wing specialists on European issues, he led the UMP list in Ile-de-France for the 2009 European Parliament election. In February 2010 he was confirmed as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services.^[1][2][3] In charge of European banking system reform, he argues for a "coherent single market with intelligent rules that apply everywhere".^[4]

He is Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour).

Timeline

European Commission

European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services : Since 2010

European Commissioner for Regional Policy : 1999–2004.

French Government

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries : 2007–2009.

Minister of Foreign Affairs : 2004–2005.

Minister of European Affairs : 1995–1997.

Minister of the Environment : 1993–1995.

Electoral mandates

European Parliament

Member of European Parliament : 2009–2010 (Resignation).

National Assembly of France

Member of the National Assembly of France for Savoie : 1978–1993 (Became minister in 1993). Elected in 1978, reelected in 1981, 1986, 1988, 1993.

Senate of France

Senator of Savoie : Elected in 1995, but he remains minister / 1997–1999 (Resignation, became European commissioner in 1999).

General Council

President of the General Council of Savoie : 1982–1999 (Resignation, became European commissioner in 1999). Reelected in 1985, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998.

General councillor of Savoie : 1973–1999 (Resignation, became European commissioner in 1999). Reelected in 1979, 1985, 1992, 1998.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michel Barnier.

• Michel Barnier Official Media Gallery
• Personal Website at the European Commission

v t e Barroso Commission II (since 2010) Joaquín Almunia2 László Andor Catherine Ashton2 Michel Barnier José Manuel Barroso1 Tonio Borg Dacian Cioloş John Dalli Maria Damanaki Štefan Füle Máire Geoghegan-Quinn Kristalina Georgieva Karel De Gucht Johannes Hahn Connie Hedegaard Siim Kallas2 Neelie Kroes2 Janusz Lewandowski Cecilia Malmström Neven Mimica Günther Oettinger Andris Piebalgs Janez Potočnik Viviane Reding2 Olli Rehn Antonio Tajani2 Androulla Vassiliou Maroš Šefčovič2 Algirdas Šemeta 1 = President. 2 = Vice President.

v t e Second Fillon Cabinet François Fillon François Baroin Alain Juppé Jean-Louis Borloo Michèle Alliot-Marie Bernard Kouchner Hervé Morin Brice Hortefeux Xavier Darcos Christine Lagarde Éric Wœrth Éric Besson Luc Chatel Bruno Le Maire Valérie Pécresse Frédéric Mitterrand Roselyne Bachelot Michel Mercier