With three days to go before the end of the Paris Olympics, Emmanuel Macron does not seem to be in a hurry to appoint a new government team. His busy schedule over the next few days suggests that the long-awaited announcements could be delayed.
The essential
- The appointment of a new Prime Minister and his government team should take place “around August 15,” a close friend of the president told Le Parisien this week.
- Emmanuel Macron is still looking for the ideal profile. A “consensual” man or woman, who has “experience”, and “who pleases both the left and the right”, among others.
- For the time being, three candidates have officially expressed their interest in Matignon: Xavier Bertrand (LR), Lucie Castets (NFP) and Bernard Cazeneuve (La Convention). At the same time, the names of more technical profiles are cited: Jean-Louis Borloo, Michel Barnier and Charles de Courson.
- After the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games on Sunday 11 August, Emmanuel Macron is expected in Brégançon for the 80th anniversary of the Landing in Provence and in Bormes-les-Mimosas for the anniversary of the Liberation of the city, on 15 and 17 August. A busy schedule that could delay the appointment of a new government.
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09:47 – No announcement before August 18, 2024?
This Sunday, August 11, will mark the end of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. With them, these Olympic Games will take away the “Olympic truce” decreed by Emmanuel Macron in the midst of a political crisis. As indicated to Le Parisien this week, the announcement of the new government team could take place “around August 15.” Unless the president’s schedule decides otherwise.
The Head of State will attend the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games this Sunday, before returning to Brégançon to attend the 80th anniversary of the Landing in Provence in Saint-Raphaël and Toulon on August 15, and the commemorations in Bormes-les-Mimosas for the anniversary of the liberation of the city, on August 17, according to information from TF1. This could already push back the appointment of a new Prime Minister and his team. With the Paralympic Games starting on August 28, an announcement could therefore be made, with a slight delay, between August 18 and August 28.
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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…
So, if the name of Gabriel Attal’s replacement was starting to take on the appearance of an open secret, the President of the Republic could speed up on this matter. According to information from Le Parisien, Emmanuel Macron could designate the name of the new occupant of Matignon between the end of the Olympic Games, on August 11 and August 15. A second source tells the daily that it will be “around August 15”, “without excluding that it could go faster”. Why not just after the Council of Ministers on August 12?
What could be the profile of the future Prime Minister?
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 man or woman, consensual, 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 color. Especially 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 transform into a “Mitterrandian attitude”.
On Wednesday, July 31, our colleagues at Politico also indicated 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 notably cites former ministers from the Republican right: Michel Barnier or Jean-Louis Borloo.
The LR president of the Hauts-de-France region, Xavier Bertrand, is even supported by several figures from the centre and the right. “He is a great republican among the Republicans and a great regional president” declared on this subject Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, resigning Secretary of State for the City, on July 30. The resigning Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin spoke of “a politician with very great competence”, he could “greatly serve France”, a day earlier. Concerning the main person concerned, there is no direct contact with the President of the Republic. Bertrand and Macron exchange, certainly, but through “emissaries” according to information from Le Parisien. A strategist from the Élysée confided to the daily that the new Prime Minister will have to be a personality “charged with going into the wall”. In other words, previous disagreements with the president might not be prohibitive, or even become an advantage regarding the tenacity of the potential nominee. A boost for the candidacy of Xavier Bertrand, in clear disagreement with the policy pursued by Emmanuel Macron in recent years. According to the Elysée, this personality will also have to give off “a scent of cohabitation” as indicated last week. Another good point for the LR.
The President of the Republic is consulting at least on a second name for the post of Prime Minister, it is Bernard Cazeneuve. The former tenant of Matignon under François Hollande remains however much less publicized than Xavier Bertrand, and much more discreet about his new political aspirations. However, according to information from Le Parisien, the latter recently spoke with the Head of State “whom he had already seen discreetly at the Elysée in the spring (well before the dissolution). A profile that could quite satisfy the consensual dimension sought by Emmanuel Macron to replace Gabriel Attal.
On Sunday, August 4, the resigning Minister for Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, also mentioned three names from the Republicans to fill the post of Prime Minister in place of Gabriel Attal. Unsurprisingly, Xavier Bertrand, the President of the Hauts-de-France region. Then Michel Barnier, former minister we told you about in this article on July 31st in the context of a possible technical Prime Minister. Finally, the name of Gérard Larcher, current President of the Senate, was also mentioned by Aurore Bergé to join Matignon. The three “have solid experience of government, Parliament, and compromise,” believes the Macronist minister, from the right.