Bruno Retailleau should see his lease at the Ministry of the Interior extended. While the left has already threatened to censor him, he dictated his conditions to François Bayrou along a strict line.
The Bayrou government could be appointed this Monday, December 23, 2024, but “not before 6 p.m.”,due to the day of national mourning in solidarity with the Mayotte archipelago ravaged by Cyclone Chido, announces the Elysée. An announcement, still delayed, but which should not change the situation for the resigning Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau. Indeed, in all likelihood, the latter should keep his position and be one of the heavyweights of the new executive formed by the Béarnais. “All the conditions are met for Bruno Retailleau to remain in government. He has obtained the guarantee of being able to continue his work of fighting illegal immigration and controlling legal immigration,” said a close friend of the minister. BFMTVat the end of last week.
“In the formation of the government, I think that Mr. Retailleau has shown in recent weeks that he had found orientations which responded to part of the opinion”, justified the new Prime Minister, Thursday December 19 on France 2. François Bayrou did not hesitate to accept the conditions of the Republican, who was the first to speak with the new head of government. On this occasion, Bruno Retailleau reminded François Bayrou of his wish to implement an offense of illegal residence, a reform concerning state medical aid, a tightening of family reunification and the rules of land law in Mayotte. , and finally, conditionality regarding aid for regular residence. Firm conditions, otherwise his participation in the government could be called into question.
And the Vendéen supported his remarks this Monday, December 23 in an interview with JDD. “I’m not making a fetish, I’m not asking for a legislative monument in my name”, but “we need legislative measures and I will not give up on them”, he says. “I listed half a dozen measures with François Bayrou, who gave me his agreement”, in particular on sex education lessons at school, an issue which will not see the light of day.“He rather reassured me on these questions and on the fact of not introducing the teaching of gender theory at school”, he specifies. He also drew up a red line concerning a text on the end of life, a subject on which the government will not have to present a text, according to its wishes. Finally, a postponement of the pension reform would be “.a tragedy for the pay-as-you-go pension system (…) We will pay dearly for it,” he concludes.
The left puts pressure
But the reappointment of the resigning Minister of the Interior could be undermined by the left, which François Bayrou also wants to see within his government. The Socialist Party has indicated that a new immigration law would automatically lead to censorship of the future executive. A position shared by Ecologists who go even further: for Marine Tondelier, the maintenance of Bruno Retailleau is “a reason for censorship in itself”.
This is why Bruno Retailleau claims to be open to options other than a law to act on immigration: reducing the AME budget could, for example, take the form of an amendment. Will this step to the left be enough for the outgoing minister to remain in government?
Retailleau, Bayrou’s right turn?
It could be difficult to convince the left, because Bruno Retailleau embodies a very right-wing line since his appointment to Michel Barnier’s government on September 21. And in just three months, the minister has become a leading figure in the government. It also responds to attacks by the French according to François Bayrou. “I will never give in to anything, I will not allow anything to pass and I will not tolerate any attack, any offense. Shame on those who express hatred towards our police forces in their speeches, it is unworthy and I I will never let it happen. […] We must have the courage to be firm, the French want more order, order in the streets, order at the borders,” declared Bruno Retailleau during his handover of power.
In addition to immigration, the senator’s positions on security and family make him the representative of a hard right within LR. Enough to transform his appointment into a shift to the right of the government. If Emmanuel Macron has been criticized for a right-wing of power, particularly by the left, the President of the Republic does not, however, share certain positions of the former right-wing senator.
Who is Bruno Retailleau?
Born on November 20, 1960 in Cholet, this senator from Vendée and president of the Les Républicains (LR) group in the Senate has established himself as an influential voice within his party in recent years. Bruno Retailleau took his first steps in politics in the 1980s. After studying philosophy, he got involved alongside Philippe de Villiers, founder of the Movement for France (MPF), a sovereignist and conservative party. He quickly became his right-hand man, particularly in Vendée, a department where Philippe de Villiers enjoyed considerable influence. Bruno Retailleau was elected general councilor of Vendée in 1988, marking the start of his political career at the local level.
His proximity to Philippe de Villiers led him to become vice-president of the General Council of Vendée in 1988, then president of the Regional Council of Pays de la Loire in 2015. However, relations between the two men gradually deteriorated. In 2010, he distanced himself from the MPF to join the UMP, Nicolas Sarkozy’s party, marking a turning point in his career.
A figure of the senatorial right
The Senate quickly became the main theater of Bruno Retailleau’s political ambitions. In 2004, he was elected senator of Vendée and began to build a reputation as a grassroots man, attached to the values of the traditional right and. His positions are often conservative on societal issues, but he adopts a more liberal line on economic matters.
In 2014, after the electoral debacle of the UMP in the municipal elections, Retailleau was elected president of the UMP group (which became Les Républicains in 2015) in the Senate. It was in this role that he truly became known to the French. He positions himself as a figure of consensus within his party, capable of speaking to all right-wing sensibilities. Under his presidency, the LR group in the Senate evolved certain reforms of the left-wing government, under the presidency of François Hollande, in particular on the Labor law.
The failed 2017 presidential campaign
Close to François Fillon, Bruno Retailleau becomes the coordinator of his campaign for the 2027 presidential election after the latter’s victory in the right and center primary in 2016. Retailleau shares with Fillon a conservative vision on societal issues and an assumed liberalism on economic issues.
However, the affair of fictitious jobs which splashes François Fillon compromises the campaign. Bruno Retailleau maintains his support until the end, but Fillon’s defeat in the first round of the presidential election marks a halt in his career. This episode did not prevent him from continuing to have influence in the Senate, where he became a figure of opposition to the presidency of Emmanuel Macron, while defending a right-wing project firmly anchored on questions of security and immigration.
National ambitions and management of LR
After the presidential election, Bruno Retailleau remains an influential voice within the right, particularly in the face of the rise to power of Emmanuel Macron and La République En Marche. In 2020, he ran for president of the Les Républicains party, but ultimately withdrew to support Christian Jacob, in a gesture of unity. Bruno Retailleau embodies the senatorial right, more conservative and less inclined to compromise than the other LR elected officials. He has always advocated for a hard line on sovereign issues.