Michel Barnier was the European Union’s Brexit negotiator and has announced he will participate in his centre-right primaries for the French presidential election next year. He told TF1 on Thursday that he wanted to be the president of a reconciled France and will be running for the French presidency. Barnier had set up a political faction named “Patriot and European,” and started rumors that he would be running.
The first round of the presidential election will begin on April 10 and none of the former mainstream parties, centre-left and centre-right, have chosen a candidate. The centre-right camp most likely will have to unify behind one candidate to qualify for the second round of the presidential election. Xavier Bertrand currently has the highest poll ratings among the mainstream centre-right candidates who have declared their bid for presidency, however, he has not been defined to be participating in any type of primaries. France’s main centre-right party will decide after September 25 the way it will select the candidate for the presidential election.
Read more: Ex-EU Brexit negotiator Barnier announces French presidential bid