PARIS (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron appointed the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as his new prime minister on Thursday in a bid to end political paralysis following an inconclusive snap election.

Here are a few key facts about Barnier:

• 1951 – Born Jan. 9 in La Tronche, a suburb of the French Alpine city of Grenoble.
• 1978 – Elected to parliament aged 27, representing the Gaullist, centre-right Savoie district.
• 1992 – Co-organiser of Winter Olympics held at Albertville in his constituency, an event still central to his public image.
• 1993-95 – Environment minister.
• 1995-97 – France’s Europe minister.
• 1999-2004 – EU regional policy commissioner, responsible for grants and subsidies accounting for a third of Union’s budget.
• 2004-05 – Foreign minister.
• 2007-09 – Agriculture minister.
• 2009-10 – EU lawmaker.
• 2010-14 – EU commissioner for internal market and services. Negotiated extensive new regulation of financial markets after the global crash, including reforms unpopular in the City of London.
• 2016 – Named EU’s Brexit negotiator after Britain’s referendum on leaving the bloc.
• 2021 – Failed in a bid to get his conservative party’s nomination for the 2022 presidential election.