Reader TTS

At the age of 70 , Michel Barnier has made a surprise breakthrough into the French presidential election. It is a nothing ventured nothing gained outing, but his bid has provoked more media

comments both in France and in Britain than any of the other 35 candidates, beyond the two main contenders, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. Barnier is winning headlines, especially in the

anti-French Brexit press in London, because he has had some juicy things to say about immigration and about the EU. He has proposed suspending immigration from outside the EU, for three

years — by which he means Muslim immigration, principally family reunion from former French colonies in North Africa, as well as 16 former colonies further south in Africa. It would be like

the UK having Pakistan, Kashmir, India and Bangladesh only a short boat ride from English shores. France has seven million immigrants born outside France, as well as EU citizens who work

under freedom of movement rules. Even 30 years ago, when I lived in France, my house was built by Portuguese migrant workers. At the time there were an estimated 700,000 legal and undeclared

Portuguese working mainly on construction sites, rather like the large numbers of Irish workers who rebuilt Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. France has suffered from the worst Islamist

atrocity attacks in recent years, with far more victims than the UK. Ideological Salafist preachers like the Swiss-born Islamist Tariq Ramadan stirred up passions against the West, though

the former Oxford academic now awaits trial on charges of sexual aggression against vulnerable Muslim women. When Barnier calls for a “breathing space”, or suspension of immigration into

France, this has nothing to do with the hostility of the Brexit campaign against European immigrants. Barnier is not challenging EU freedom of movement. Indeed,  France ’ s economy would

collapse if lower-paid Europeans from poorer countries could not work as waiters, nurses, care-home attendants, in mountain and seaside resorts or as building workers. So the denunciations

of Barnier in the French press, accusing him of trying to win votes as a French Boris Johnson or Nigel Farage are wide of the mark. Indeed, Emmanuel Macron and his hardline Priti Patel-type

Interior Minister, Gérard Darmanin, have been denounced as anti-Muslim politicians by many on the French liberal Left. Nonetheless, Barnier ’ s criticisms of the Brussels bureaucracy and his

suggestion of referendums on repatriating powers from the European Court of Justice or the European Commission do indeed sound like Conservative Eurosceptic nostrums advanced this century.

For the denizens of Brussels and the pro-EU French political class this has been a shock. Michel Barnier was always seen as one of their club. He was elected at the age of 28 in his native

Savoy Alps region. He identified himself as a “ Social Gaullist” , which means a follower of Gaullism but animated by Catholic social teaching on the labour market . But all the time he was

seen as a devout European. In 1992, Jacques Chirac, then leader of the main centre-right party, told his parliamentarians to vote against Fran çois Mitterrand ’ s ratification of the

Maastricht Treaty, which led to the creation of the EU. Barnier voted with the Socialist Mitterrand. He once described to me how Chirac came up and jabbed him in the chest saying: “ Your

career is finished, fini, fini! ” In fact, Barnier went on to hold two key ministerial posts of Foreign Minister and the top French domestic politics job of Agriculture Minister, as well as

two terms as a European Commissioner nominated by Paris. It was that experience, plus his early endorsement of the pro-EU Emmanuel Macron five years ago, that won him the appointment as

Europe ’ s Brexit negotiator. It is now   commonly agreed that he comprehensively out-negotiated the mid-rank diplomat David Frost, whom Boris Johnson appointed on grounds of personal

loyalty and Brexit enthusiasm. Now Britain is seeking a major renegotiation of treaties it agreed less than two years ago. This is unprecedented in the history of international treaty

history. For Barnier , being admired in Brussels and resting on the laurels of his reputation as a solid, if stolid, professional of French centre-right politics is not an entry ticket into

the presidential race. His only hope is if he emerges as the winner of the complicated system of choosing a candidate for Les R é publicains, the main centre-right party of Chirac and

Sarkozy which has been in opposition since Fran ç ois Hollande , followed by Emmanuel Macron, won the Elys é e in 2012 and 2017. Les Ré publicains will hold a party convention next week to

report on a poll of 15,000 members. They are asked to decide if a special congress should nominate the candidate or if it should be done by a primary of all fully paid-up members. Friends of

Barnier say he has embraced themes closer to Marine Le Pen than his own political history, as it is the only way to distinguish himself from other Les R é publicains hopefuls like Val é rie

Pecresse and Xavier Bertrand, both ex- Sarkozy era ministers who run big regions in around Paris and northern France. But for many, his move to Brexit themes seems rank opportunism and he

has been widely condemned by much of the pro-European media — without picking up support from the rightist Europhobe and anti-Muslim papers and weeklies. French politics is cynical, and

opportunists and political turn-coats often profit from reversing their once cherished beliefs and positions. But after nearly five decades of being one of France ’ s high- level

pro-Europeans , Michel Barnier ’ s last throw of the political dice is unlikely to win him entry into the second round of the contest for the Elys é e in April next year.   A MESSAGE FROM

THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to

continue publishing throughout the pandemic. So please, make a donation._