French PM Barnier’s shadow follows Macron to Brussels – POLITICO

BRUSSELS — After seven years of micromanagement, French President Emmanuel Macron is being forced to learn how to share power after appointing a prime minister from another political party, conservative leader Michel Barnier — a new reality which applies on domestic affairs and EU files alike.

Both Macron and Barnier were in Brussels Thursday, with the French president attending the European Council meeting while his prime minister headed to the European People’s Party’s (EPP) summit.

Their simultaneous presence is a rare fact: traditionally, either the head of state or the head of government remains in France while the other travels abroad — an unwritten rule which has nonetheless been broken on occasion in recent years.