Immigration, economy, pensions… What Michel Barnier advocated when he ran for the Elysée in 2021

An unsuccessful candidate in the internal primary of the Les Républicains party won by Valérie Pécresse, Michel Barnier had notably defended a “moratorium” on the regularization of illegal immigrants and the postponement of the retirement age to 65.

Minister, European Commissioner, MP, senator… The new Prime Minister Michel Barnier, appointed by Emmanuel Macron on Thursday 5 September, had many political lives before reaching Matignon. He was even a candidate in the Republican primary for the 2022 presidential election.

The one who defines himself as a “social Gaullist” had finished third in this primary, won by Valérie Pécresse. While he will have to deal with an Assembly without a majority to adopt texts, franceinfo returns to his proposals of the time.

Very firm positions on immigration

“Letting go is never a solution in politics. Today we are measuring the consequences of laxity and denial. We must name the problem, face it and deal with it,” Michel Barnier said at the time FigaroTaking a very firm line on immigration and security, he had proposed a “moratorium” on immigration for three to five years. With this in mind, the candidate wanted “stop unconditional regularization of undocumented immigrants”, “speeding up the asylum seeker’s journey”tighten the criteria for family reunification and reduce the issuing of long-stay visas.

He had especially surprised, in view of his European experiences, by advocating a referendum to allow a return to a “freedom of maneuver” on immigration, suggesting that France should free itself from the rules guaranteed by the legal bodies of the EU and the Council of Europe. Faced with criticism, he had maintained that in matters of immigration, “If we don’t change anything, there will be other Brexits”Positions shared in particular by the National Rally.

A promise of savings and retirement at 65

The new Prime Minister will have to manage a precarious financial situation and present a 2025 budget by the end of September, while the deficit could widen more than expected, according to Bercy. At the time of his candidacy, Michel Barnier wanted a “strict savings trajectory” for the state budget and a “debt control”. In order to stimulate the “return to work and activity, key to growth”, He recommended reducing production taxes by 10 billion euros and lowering social security contributions on intermediate salaries from 1.6 to 2.5 times the minimum wage.

Follower of “courageous reforms”Michel Barnier defended “retirement at 65”one year more than the reform adopted in 2023, and a “greater state efficiency” and local authorities, “in particular to eliminate all our administrative duplicates”.

The desire to hunt down “welfare”

Adopting classic right-wing positions, the former minister said he wanted “encourage work and merit, to the detriment of welfare”for example by suspending unemployment benefits “after two refusals of a reasonable offer”. He declared himself, however “much more concerned” of social dialogue than President Emmanuel Macron, whose various unemployment insurance reforms were carried out without consultation with the unions.

Michel Barnier also said he wanted to fight against social fraud and proposed replacing all Vitale cards with biometric cards, in order to“save considerable sums” by deleting one “a real nest of fraud”. Faced with the crisis in public services, he planned to increase salaries in the “essential public services of health and education”, while wanting “debureaucratize” the hospital and “make greater use of shared management with doctors”.

A revival of nuclear power to combat global warming

The new Prime Minister was already in sync with the President three years ago. The former Minister of the Environment from 1993 to 1995 proposed to “relaunch” nuclear power and investing in renewable energies, such as photovoltaics, biomass or hydraulics. The candidate at the time, however, said he wanted to stop wind power projects because “they do a lot of damage”a position traditionally held by the far right in France.

Also serving in the Ministry of Agriculture, he spoke of supporting farmers, “first environmentalists”, and castigated the projects of “degrowth” agricultural projects supported, according to him, by the EU. He also proposed a carbon tax at the EU borders: “It will help restore fair competition between Europe and its trading partners.”