From Fort Brégançon, Emmanuel Macron’s thinking seems to be progressing regarding the new occupant of Matignon. A clear profile is emerging as the head of state continues his summer break in the Var.
The essential
- Emmanuel Macron has postponed the appointment of a new Prime Minister and government until after the Olympic Games, i.e. not before “mid-August”. For the time being, it is therefore the resigning government of Gabriel Attal that is managing current affairs.
- Consequently, it is the Attal government that is preparing the finance bill that will be presented to Parliament at the beginning of October, with a view to the 2025 budget. A situation that displeases the left, which still hopes to form an executive after its victory in the legislative elections.
- From the fort of Brégançon (Var), the President of the Republic imagines the profile of the new Prime Minister. “A man or a woman, consensual, who pleases the left as well as the right”, we can read in the columns of Le Monde.
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12:44 – The NFP will not dissociate itself from LFI
“I hear that La France Insoumise has opposition and that it annoys part of the population. But, we were elected under a New Popular Front label. There is also a prism that consists only of seeing the opposition to Jean-Luc Mélenchon while there is also real support for La France Insoumise, particularly among young people and the most precarious” indicates this Wednesday morning the ecologist elected Sandrine Rousseau, on France Info.
“The NFP, which is this coalition, is a coalition that emerged from the ballot box. If we said, “we don’t want to do it with LFI”, we should have done it before the election.” In other words, the New Popular Front will not do without LFI, despite marked differences within the left-wing alliance itself, winner of the last early legislative elections. A position that could sound the death knell for the left’s ambitions for Matignon, even though Emmanuel Macron has remained totally indifferent to the candidacy of the 37-year-old senior civil servant, Lucie Castets, designated by the NFP for the post of Prime Minister.
If we wanted a coalition other than the #NewPopularFrontit was necessary to propose it before the elections and present it to the voters. This is the #NFP who stood for election, it is this coalition that must govern. https://t.co/9GewiKSGZG
— Sandrine Rousseau (@sandrousseau) July 31, 2024
11:48 – Michel Barnier and Jean-Louis Borloo in the race?
This Wednesday, July 31, our colleagues from Politico also indicate that another option could catch Emmanuel Macron’s attention, even if Xavier Bertrand’s rating seems higher than ever in the race for Matignon. A minister confided to them that a profile “retired from political life”, “in any case closer to the end than the beginning” of his career could hold the rope. He cites in particular former ministers from the Republican right: Michel Barnier or Jean-Louis Borloo. At the same time, for the post of European Commissioner assigned to France, Emmanuel Macron is said to have proposed the name of Thierry Breton to Ursula von der Leyen.
10:56 – Xavier Bertrand, new favorite for Matignon?
If Emmanuel Macron intends to “mature” his plan from Fort Brégançon, out of sight, one man seems to stand out in recent days for the post of Prime Minister: Xavier Bertrand. The president of the Hauts-de-France region does not lack support, clearly displayed in the media.
“He is a great Republican among Republicans and a great regional president,” declared Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, resigning Secretary of State for the City, in La Grande Interview, Tuesday on CNews about a potential right-wing government. The day before, on France 2, the Bertrand case was also acclaimed by the resigning Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, close to Xavier Bertrand: “He can greatly serve France” he noted on France 2. He “could be the man for the job” even slipped a minister to Politicothis Wednesday.
10:41 – The Prime Minister will have to please “both the left and the right”
Emmanuel Macron is taking advantage of a summer break from Fort Brégançon to give new clues about the profile of the new Prime Minister. Clear elements are now emerging for the person who will take over from Gabriel Attal. The head of government will have to be “a consensual man or woman who pleases both the left and the right”, we can read in the columns of Le Monde.
According to the Elysée, this personality will also have to give off “a scent of cohabitation”. This is an important clue about the composition of the new government and its political colour. Particularly after Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to see the NFP candidate, Lucie Castets, at Matignon. The newspaper Le Monde also reveals that the posture of the “omnipresent”, adopted by Emmanuel Macron could now turn into a “Mitterrandian attitude”.
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How soon will the new government be appointed?
Emmanuel Macron called for a “political truce” for the duration of the Olympic Games, while Gabriel Attal’s government resigned on July 16. The President of the Republic estimated that no new government would be appointed before “mid-August”, preferring “stability” for the duration of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Given the composition of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic has set himself the task of finding a Prime Minister capable of gathering the support of at least 289 deputies, in order to ensure stability. The same applies to the ministers that the latter will then have to propose. Otherwise, the new government as a whole would be exposed to a motion of censure which, if voted for by more than half of the elected representatives, would lead to the overthrow of the ministerial team. It would therefore be necessary to start all over again.
The problem is that Emmanuel Macron will have to accommodate all sensitivities, from the left of course, from the center naturally, but also from the right. If the NFP came out on top, the head of state has already ruled out governing with the LFI deputies. So out goes these sixty elected officials, who could be compensated by the sixty LR who should once again join the Palais Bourbon. Finding personalities who suit the ecologists, socialists, communists, macronists and republicans will not be easy. Not to mention the programmatic points on which everyone will have to agree. The negotiations are still expected to be long and complex. Suffice to say that Gabriel Attal should make extra…
Long and complex negotiations also took place on the left, before the NFP reached an agreement, on Tuesday July 23, just one hour before Emmanuel Macron’s interview on France 2. After several weeks of procrastination, the left-wing parties of the NFP agreed on the name of the senior civil servant, spokesperson for Our Public Services, Lucie Castets, for Matignon.
On Tuesday, July 30, Gabriel Attal presented his “action pact” to the Ensemble group. Some forty ideas broken down into six axes intended to “feed the dialogue with other political parties”, in the hope of forming a relatively broad coalition, from the socialists to the Republican right. The “greater hardening of penal policy” and “new efforts to support the attractiveness of the teaching profession” could also be part of the “discussions”, even if these lines are not part of the proposals written in black and white by EPR. Enough to seduce both Les Républicains and the New Popular Front.