Jean-Claude Juncker’s replacement at the commission will be the most difficult to agree, amid a dogfight between the Brussels institutions and member states over the candidacy process. Mr Barnier, a former French foreign minister, appeared to let slip his long-running ambitions to become the figurehead in the bloc’s powerful executive branch in an interview published on Sunday, without confirming his intentions. “I am taking part in the European debate and I want to be useful,” he said after the conservative French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) asked him whether he was positioning himself to succeed outgoing Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
Today we find ourselves in a serious situation of distress. We can no longer be opposed to one another, we need to act
Michel Barnier
The Commission is crucially important because its members propose legislation and negotiate free-trade deals.
Mr Barnier also warned Europe faces a “serious situation” amid a deepening existential crisis and resurgent far-right nationalism.
He said: “We must respond to the social anger being expressed and demonstrate both courage and strength.
“Today we find ourselves in a serious situation of distress. We can no longer be opposed to one another, we need to act.”
He also stressed the urgent need to protect Europe against “superpowers that are not waiting for us,” in reference to an increasingly predatory China and protectionist America.
This is the second time in a week Mr Barnier has appeared to confirm he is set to join the race to the Commission.
At the Technical University in Munich, when discussing the upcoming European Parliament elections last week, Mr Barnier said that what he had tried to do in his speech was to
