SEBASTIEN LECORNU. Sébastien Lecornu will replace Florence Parly at the Ministry of the Armed Forces. The one who has been Minister of Defense since the start of the five-year term therefore leaves room for a politician from the right, while war is still raging at the gates of Europe…
[Mis à jour le 20 mai 2022 à 17h55] Sébastien Lecornu, former Minister of Overseas Territories and former President of the Eure Departmental Council, will take over the Ministry of Defense following the reshuffle, announced this Friday, May 20, 2022, around 4:30 p.m. This former executive of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) then of the Republicans (LR) will therefore take the place of Florence Parly, presented at her beginnings as a woman on the left. And while the international crisis remains major on the sidelines of the war in Ukraine, it is a politician, who is said to be in perfect line with Macron, who will thus succeed a “manager”.
The name of Sébastien Lecornu has, for a time, circulated for Matignon, before disappearing. It was nevertheless written that this representative of the right flank of the majority would land new functions. The Ministry of the Armed Forces was considered by the JDD from the first rumors about the reshuffle. Because Sébastien Lecornu is far from being a novice in politics. He has already been parliamentary assistant to UMP deputy Franck Gilard, adviser to Bruno Le Maire, secretary of state for European affairs in the first Fillon government, mayor of Vernon (Eure) and president of the department. Sébastien Lecornu, who was youngest member of the Philippe government at the start of the five-year term, studied law at the prestigious University of Assas in Paris. before inheriting of the Overseas Territories, he was previously Secretary of State to the Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition and Minister in charge of Communities. The Ministry of Defense will undoubtedly be his biggest challenge.
Sébastien Lecornu indeed arrives at the Ministry of Defense at a complex time. The question of appointing a new Minister of the Armed Forces, while the war is still raging in Ukraine and international tensions are far from being appeased, has long remained unresolved. Until now, stability was put forward, Florence Parly being given as one of the rare members of the government able to keep her post after the presidential election. But in the last few days, the current Minister of the Armed Forces, like that of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, another heavyweight of the executive in times of crisis, have been given starters.
Still, Sébastien Lecornu is the choice of the perfect match for Emmanuel Macron. Presented as a “trustee” of the Head of State, who remains in the institutions the “Chief of the Armies”, this former close friend of Edouard Philippe was in a way preempted by the President of the Republic during the previous five-year term. . After having been “noticed” by the tenant of the Elysée, Sébastien Lecornu would have notably “earned his stripes” as minister of local authorities “by setting in motion the great debate” in response to the crisis of yellow vests in 2018 writes Le Monde in the short portrait it devotes to the new Minister of Defence.
The only misstep of this political end to date: the crisis in Guadeloupe at the end of last year, which turned into riots against the obligation to vaccinate caregivers and firefighters against Covid-19. An evening in New Caledonia, during which the barrier gestures would have been neglected, will also put him in an uncomfortable position for a time, as will the rejection by the elected officials of Mayotte of his bill for the archipelago. A snub for the executive.
Sébastien Lecornu more “political” than Florence Parly
Sébastien Lecornu displays in any case a much more political profile than that of Florence Parly, appointed Minister of the Armed Forces on June 21, 2017. This enarque, who will take the place of Sylvie Goulard, who resigned after only a few weeks at Defense, is not completely foreign to the government when she entered it after the election of Emmanuel Macron. In particular, she was already Secretary of State for the Budget between 2000 and 2002 in the government of Lionel Jospin. However, it will display throughout the five-year term an image of a technician, acting more as a manager of the armies and their budget than as a strategist.
A socialist by origin (she joined the PS in 1995) Florence Parly was also deputy general manager at Air France from 2008 to 2014, then general manager of strategies and finance at SNCF and general manager of SNCF Voyageur from May 1, 2016 to her nomination. A time anticipated for Matignon, she was finally reappointed in July 2020. Her departure was expected like the appointment of Sébastien Lecornu, which became certainty in the final rumors before the reshuffle.
What is the role of the Minister of Defense?
The Minister of National Defense and the Armed Forces is responsible “for the preparation and implementation of the defense policy” of France according to ministry website. A responsibility that he assumes, with the Prime Minister, before Parliament. A major objective is entrusted to the Minister of the Armed Forces: “to ensure the protection of the national territory, of the population and of French interests everywhere in the world”. Still, the Minister of Defense has a special position, the President of the Republic officially remaining the head of the armed forces (air force, army and navy). He must also work on good terms with the Prime Minister, who is responsible for government action in the entire field of defense and national security.
This situation very often makes the Minister of Defense a manager of the armies more than a military leader, with a thankless role: to define, defend and assume each year a budget for the armies, with often highly debated programming of manpower, equipment and infrastructures. The organization of the armed forces as well as the departments and departments of the ministry is indeed one of its main powers. The minister is also in charge of “affairs relating to veterans and victims of war, the link between the armies and the nation, the military reserve and issues relating to repatriates”.
The Minister of Defense has also been mobilized in recent years on another of her attributions: the “contribution of the health service of the armies to public health policy”, with in particular the use of field hospitals during the Covid crisis in spring 2020. Its crucial mission now and in the coming weeks is to participate in international defense negotiations.
The Minister for the Armed Forces is traditionally assisted by one or more Secretaries of State or Deputy Ministers, as is very often the case with the Veterans Affairs portfolio. But he is also surrounded by several key representatives, specialized “directorates” and “offices”, such as the Chief of Defense Staff, a General Delegate for Armaments (DGA) or a General Directorate for Security exterior (DGSE).
Several ministers dismissed for the Armies
Former soldiers and specialists in the military question in the political world are obviously numerous, but few names finally circulated during this race of rumors which preceded the reshuffle. That of Jean-Yves Le Drian, who was Minister of Defense for François Hollande in his time, before joining the Quai d’Orsay, was obviously in people’s minds. But multiplying the shuttles between diplomacy and the Armies would have been an oddity. Others, such as Bruno Le Maire, Gérald Darmanin, Julien Denormandie or Gabriel Attal, seemed to have either the political stature or the necessary confidence of Emmanuel Macron for such a position, although the lack of experience seemed glaring for several of them. ‘between them.
More serious option: Clément Beaune, currently on the front line of several hot files in European Affairs and also very close to Macron, was also cited. He will ultimately remain in his post. Like the former socialist minister Marisol Touraine, a time also anticipated. Basically, the latter worked in her early days at the General Secretariat of National Defense and advised a certain Michel Rocard on strategic issues at other times. But she has not been named.
Another profile has emerged through the noises of the corridors, to invest the Hôtel de Brienne: that of Olivier Dussopt. The former socialist deputy, who took over the public finance portfolio in the summer of 2020, was cited by both Le Point and the JDD as a possible defense minister. Successor to Gérald Darmanin at Bercy, Olivier Dussopt finally inherited the Labor portfolio.