Speakers Detail

Michel Barnier

Member of Parliament
French National Assembly

About Speaker

Michel Barnier was first elected in 1972 in the Savoie region of France. He subsequently served as a Member of Parliament and President of the Savoie Departmental Council. Together with Jean-Claude Killy, he co-organized the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville and Savoie.

Over the course of his political career, Michel Barnier held several ministerial positions within the French government, including:

· Minister for the Environment (1993–1995)

· Minister for European Affairs (1995–1997)

· Minister of Foreign Affairs (2004–2005)

· Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (2007–2009)

He also served twice as European Commissioner:

· European Commissioner for Regional Policy (1999–2004)

· European Commissioner for Internal Market and Financial Services (2010–2014)

From 2016 to 2021, Michel Barnier was appointed Chief Negotiator for the European Union in charge of Brexit negotiations with the United Kingdom. He officially left the European Commission in March 2021.

In September 2024, he became Prime Minister of the French Republic, serving until the vote of no confidence that led to the fall of his government in December 2024.

Publications

· Vive la politique — Stock, 1985

· Chacun pour tous, le défi écologique — Stock, 1990

· Atlas des risques majeurs — Plon, 1992

· Qui va nourrir le monde ? — Acropole, 2008

· Se reposer ou être libre — Gallimard, 2014

· La Grande illusion, journal secret du Brexit — Gallimard, 2021

· Ce que j’ai appris de vous - Calmann-Levy, 202

Speaker

Power Redrawn: Where Does Europe Stand?

The postwar order that shaped European ambition is giving way to something harder and less forgiving. The world has not become post-geopolitical; it has become multi-layered, volatile, and strategically competitive, with influence now flowing through networks, capital, and technological systems as much as through armies and territory. Europe finds itself caught between two logics of power, traditional and emerging. This is not a moment for incremental adjustment; it is a moment for honest reckoning about whether Europe understands the transformation underway.

Does Europe have clarity on what power actually means today, and what would it take to develop a coherent strategy that spans both its traditional strengths and the new domains where dominance is being decided?
What leverage does Europe still genuinely possess — economic, diplomatic, technological, and values-based — and how can it be translated into strategic relevance rather than just regulatory clout?
How can the EU overcome its internal fragmentation to achieve the scale, speed, and unity that the new global power competition demands?
What would a genuine model of pooled sovereignty look like in practice?
How can Europe build partnerships grounded in mutual capability rather than dependency, and what does strategic autonomy require beyond declarations?

Executive Summary

This opening panel of the Forum's second day brought voices on European politics and geopolitics together for a candid reckoning with Europe's power deficit. Michael Barnier argued that Europe's failure to address citizens' daily concerns at the right level, national, regional and European — is feeding the nationalist movements that use Brussels as a scapegoat for problems. Ivan Krastev offered the session's most arresting reframe: power is about expectations, not just capabilities, and Europe's material power has not declined as much as others' perception of it has. When it comes to tools, Mij Rahman, identified membership conditionality, single market access, trade architecture and the frozen Russian reserves in EuroClear as genuine instruments of leverage that Europe has either underused or failed to deploy coherently. Barnier's most resonant proposal was institutional: Europe needs a single empowered envoy to negotiate with Russia, modelled on the Brexit negotiation's daily transparency methodology.

Livestream Link: https://youtube.com/live/BIwKUT0J11E?feature=share

Panel Session Global Systemic Transformation

Friday, 22. 5. 2026

09:20–10:10 CEST

Havel Stage

Behind Closed Doors with Michel Barnier

Chat Global Systemic Transformation

Friday, 22. 5. 2026

11:30–12:00 CEST

POLITICO Speakeasy