As Emmanuel Macron is expected to soon appoint a new Prime Minister, the name of Bernard Cazeneuve is coming up again. The former socialist could correspond to the consensual dimension sought by the president.
The name of the future Prime Minister is not yet known but the list of potential interested parties is growing. Recently, it is the name of Bernard Cazeneuve that is circulating. He had also said he was ready to run for this position on LCI : “I have never refused to put wisdom where there is unreason. If it is necessary to do it collectively, I will always be ready.” He assured that his main concern is that “the country does not fall into downgrading, into ungovernability.”
Bernard Cazeneuve could, in fact, have his chances. First of all because he knows Matignon very well. He sat there for a few months under François Hollande (December 2016 to May 2017), succeeding Manuel Valls. It also seems that the PS, of which he was a member for decades, appears to be the party most likely to reconcile the Macronists and the New Popular Front. Bernard Cazeneuve could correspond to the consensual profile sought by Emmanuel Macron.
He could please the president and the presidential camp also thanks to his opposition to LFI. He has never hidden his aversion to Jean-Luc Mélenchon and had deplored the presence of La France insoumise in the New Popular Front. He also left the PS after the agreement between the PS and LFi for the 2022 legislative elections. According to The Parisianthe 61-year-old politician is said to have recently spoken to the head of state on the telephone, information that the person concerned denied to theAFP.
Bernard Cazeneuve’s case divides the left
Bernard Cazeneuve can count on the support of some left-wing figures. He has notably received the support of former PS MP Olivier Falorni sur X, who sees in him a real potential to be a unifying Prime Minister: “A statesman recognized by the right. A man of the left recognized by the left. For me, Bernard Cazeneuve is the right man to govern France and unite the country”. The politician also maintains good relations with Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the Communist Party. Last winter, the communist had called for the Nupes to be extended to Bernard Cazeneuve “and his friends”.
However, he is not unanimous, particularly among those close to Olivier Faure, the current president of the PS. “Bernard Cazeneuve embodies a left that has cobwebs under its arms, which we no longer want. A new generation has risen, and that is what we must talk about now,” he confided to Huffpost a PS executive. The New Popular Front also continues to defend the candidacy of Lucie Castets, a choice that Emmanuel Macron refuses.
Bernard Cazeneuve has a long career behind him: he has been in government on numerous occasions, whether for European Affairs, the Budget or the Interior. He notably faced the 2015 attacks in Paris. A member of the Socialist Party from 1987 to 2022, he then launched his own party called La Convention. However, he has not been a candidate in an election since the 2012 legislative elections.