Yellow warning, moderate wind, Sunday December 22 at midday, Xavier Bertrand is Minister of Justice. Twice in the preceding days, François Bayrou confirmed to the President of Hauts-de-France his appointment to the Chancellery. The problem with promotions announced too early is that they have time to irritate their opponents. Orange alert, a squall and the information reached Marine Le Pen’s ears that same Sunday 22. She found it hard to believe it.
Three days earlier, the boss of the deputies of the National Rally was kind enough to send the elected representative of the North Sébastien Chenu to declare on RTL that “Xavier Bertrand Secretary of State for Tourism” – even if this would be perceived as “a provocation ” – would not provoke censorship of François Bayrou by the RN from the outset. But how can the Prime Minister think for a moment that the Lepéniste party would remain placid in front of a Xavier Bertrand Keeper of the Seals? Of course, the Minister of Justice cannot influence the Paris court which will render its decision on March 31 in the trial of the parliamentary assistants, but that does not prevent him. The former presidential candidate knows it: among her 11 million voters, many believe that the links are murky between the Ministry of Justice and judges. The arrival of Xavier Bertrand at Place Vendôme would be interpreted as a sign of its weakening, it must act.
Red alert, storm in François Bayrou’s handset. It’s Marine Le Pen on the line, she who picked up her phone to trumpet her anger, she who exclaims: “Xavier Bertrand to Justice, it’s automatic censorship.” The Prime Minister cannot afford it. A few hours later, he calls Xavier Bertrand. He may have another wallet, not this one…
The president of Hauts-de-France declines, soon he will stage his disappearance, with a press release deliberately inspired by the political testament left by Jacques Chirac on March 11, 2007 in a solemn televised address: “Never deal with extremism. ” Michel Barnier privately agreed that Emmanuel Macron had ensured that he would not be censored a priori by the RN before appointing him as head of government. Xavier Bertrand emphasizes that he is not joining a team formed “with the approval of Marine Le Pen”.
“The Ten Guys”
“François Hollande, every time we see each other, repeats to me what I told him 10 years ago: ‘Who are the 10 guys we sit around a table in times of crisis?’ We’re there.” So spoke François Bayrou this summer, already imagining what he would do if he were at Matignon. We’re there. He’s there. But it’s the absent ones that we see the most. The Béarnais had argued with Emmanuel Macron that he could take on board from Xavier Bertrand to Bernard Cazeneuve – neither of whom is on board.
Michel Barnier had deliberately excluded any heavyweight from his team, only Bruno Retailleau had managed to break through the sound barrier. François Bayrou at least wanted to avoid this reproach. He remembers, having experienced it as Minister of Education, what Philippe Séguin said of Alain Juppé, head of government between 1995 and 1997: “He likes to reign over a desert.” He also remembers his first ministerial experience, in 1993. He then belonged to the Balladur government which, like the one announced this Monday evening, had four pillars, four ministers of state. In 2017, François Bayrou himself asked Emmanuel Macron (and obtained) the title of Minister of State when he was offered the Chancellery, to better stand out from the crowd.
This time, there are four of them. Among them, Gérald Darmanin, who follows a glorious precedent by obtaining Justice after going through the Interior (François Mitterrand under the Fourth Republic). The president’s choice – yes, but which one? Certainly not the current one who, during the appointment of Michel Barnier, was careful not to demand anything for his former Minister of the Interior. Two names were explicitly mentioned by Emmanuel Macron at the time of the composition of the previous government: Sébastien Lecornu, whom he wanted to see stay in the Armed Forces, and Rachida Dati, whom he wanted to see stay at all. He is wary of Gérald Darmanin, whom he sometimes considers harsh and threatening.
This time, François Bayrou was ready, if necessary, to sacrifice his Modem friend Jean-Noël Barrot, but Emmanuel Macron, like the previous time, well hid his enthusiasm over Darmanin’s arrival at the Quai. The president pleaded for continuity, both in Foreign Affairs and in Defense, which was the best way to resolve the puzzle.
“Gérald digs holes in the ground”
No, the president on whom the deputy from the North can count is called Nicolas Sarkozy. Of course, François Bayrou doesn’t care much about satisfying this rival whom he hates and who does him well, but politics is a matter of balance and the power of nuisance of the Ex still exists… “Darmanin would return to calm the Sarkozysts “, predicted someone close to the head of state before the announcement of the new government.
Another advantage is that with this ambition there is no risk of refusal. His departure from Beauvau shook him and the return to a life far from the ministries only moderately enthused him, according to one of his friends: “Gérald is bored, he digs holes in the ground.” Said differently by an intimate of the president: “Darmanin, sometimes he wants to take off his tie, sometimes he rolls on the ground to put it back on.”
François Bayrou, in 1995, had expanded his Education portfolio by obtaining research, professional education and professional integration. It was more or less this position that he offered to Elisabeth Borne. It is the forgiveness of offenses. “But Elisabeth, you don’t exist!” : the violence of the remarks shocked the participants. In 2022, during a meeting for the legislative elections, the Palois rebuffs the one who arrives in Matignon. He never spared it, deliberately placing it in the category of techno; today he makes it number 2 in his government. She said no to Michel Barnier in September, she said yes to the one she reports from, in Twenty months in Matignon (Flammarion), the advice he gave him one day: “I have a simple principle in politics, I ask myself what my enemy would like me to do and I do the opposite.”
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