France Pushing for Brexit Negotiator Barnier as Commission Head

(Bloomberg) --

President Emmanuel Macron will push chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as his choice to lead the European Commission, a senior French official said, as European leaders meet Tuesday in Brussels to begin the jostling to fill the bloc’s leadership spots.

The official said on condition of anonymity that the French leader first wants to agree on the commission president before beginning to haggle over positions such as head of the European Central Bank, the other prized post and one that might go to a candidate from Germany, which has never held that office.

The horsetrading for the top EU jobs begins at a summit in Brussels with the European Parliament elections over. France and Germany, Europe’s two biggest economies, have traditionally had substantial leverage over the EU jobs and Macron’s opening gambit would enhance Germany’s claim to the ECB post.

But the challenge is that Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann is a non-starter for southern leaders for his long-held hawkish views, opposition to many of Mario Draghi’s unconventional measures and repeatedly calling for the start of a cycle of higher interest rates.

French officials have already rejected the so-called “Spitzenkanditat” system whereby the biggest party in the European Parliament selects the head of the commission. Movements making up the center-right European People’s Party group in the EU parliament won the most seats in Sunday’s elections, but lost ground compared with the previous vote five years ago.

Weber Doomed?

The EPP’s candidate is Germany’s Manfred Weber but his bid looks increasingly doomed. “We have to deal with the fact that there’s been an erosion of the EPP and a major erosion of the Socialists, with a reinforcement of the centrists, and a breakthrough for the Greens,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on France Inter Tuesday. “We need to open a discussion that includes the new forces.”

Le Drian was asked about Barnier in the interview, and responded that “personally, I like Mr Barnier. I’ve known him a long time and appreciate his qualities, but this is a discussion to have at the European level.”

Macron has begun that discussion. Last week he met with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, he dined with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez last night, and today will lunch in Brussels with those same two Iberian leaders as well as Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Belgium’s Charles Michel.

Alliances Forming

Sanchez and Macron agreed last night to work together to push for social democrats and liberals to be included among the EU’s senior officials, Spanish officials said.

Macron this afternoon will also meet the leaders of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, before having a one-on-one with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The EU summit itself will be held over dinner.

Four central European nations will nominate Slovakia’s Maros Sefcovic to replace President Jean-Claude Juncker, Hospodarske Noviny reported on Tuesday. His chances to clinch the job are slim, a high ranking source said, adding his bid could be used as a tactic to secure him another vice president post on the new commission.

Barnier has led the EU’s negotiations with Britain over Brexit since 2016. He’s also been the EU Commissioner for the internal market, as well as holding several cabinet positions in France. He officially belongs to the EPP group, though he has close ties to Macron who is trying to set up a new centrist group in the EU parliament.

Macron had asked him to run for the European Parliament for Macron’s political party but he declined, officials have said.

--With assistance from Charles Penty, Marine Strauss, Andra Timu and Lenka Ponikelska.

To contact the reporters on this story: Geraldine Amiel in Paris at gamiel@bloomberg.net;Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-Jackson

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