François Bayrou has just been appointed Prime Minister this Friday, December 13. However, he had made comments a few months earlier which could suggest that he was aiming for another deadline.
François Bayrou has just been appointed Prime Minister this Friday, December 13 by Emmanuel Macron. If the president of MoDem takes such a position, it would not be his only political ambition. Another deadline could interest the politician: the presidential election of 2027. François Bayrou had mentioned, while remaining quite vague, this potential objective in February 2024, when Gabriel Attal was making his debut at Matignon and he had just be acquitted in the parliamentary assistants affair. He explained, at that time, that he was particularly disappointed at not having been called upon to occupy the position of Minister of National Education, which he had already occupied from March 30, 1993 to June 2, 1997 (Balladur and Juppé I governments). and II), and had refused the position of Minister of the Armed Forces.
He then assured, on February 8 on franceinfo, that “when we have such a deep crisis in the country, between those in power and the base of the French, we must act”, even though the situation was very different. At the time, Élisabeth Borne had just left Matignon after having forcefully passed a certain number of texts, such as the famous pension reform. She was replaced by Gabriel Attal, whose government did not appease the grievances of the French against the executive.
A candidacy in preparation for 2027?
Although he assured that his party remained an ally of the macronie, the one who supported Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022 then marked a break with the presidential camp: “You saw correctly, there is a political imbalance [entre la droite et la gauche, NDLR]. There is a drift. It’s time to remember why we are here. We said in 2017 that we were going to govern differently. I now hear MoDem deputies tell me that they have the impression of working exactly as before. In the recovery of the country, the MoDem is engaged on the front line. But I see that we are acting as if the crisis does not exist. We have at MoDem a fairly ambitious project to reduce this cry.” A project which could potentially be implemented in 2027, according to his declarations: “The challenge of 2027 is that we manage to reconcile France ‘at the bottom and the one at the top. We have to find a way.” When asked about his candidacy, he replied: “I have never renounced the responsibilities that are mine. I am an elected official from the most remote province in the country, I know the difficulties of the French.[…] I say that the movement that we are experiencing is essentially a deviation. Let’s fix them. Let’s correct them now, with the majority, with the government.” “Are you setting the date for 2027?” insisted the journalist. François Bayrou retorted: “It’s not me who sets the date, it’s the country “.
The mayor of Pau then went to the BFMTV set on March 10 and made statements along the same lines. According to him, he has “no ambitions” for 2027, but “responsibilities”, which “are the responsibilities of a citizen, who chooses to be the most useful in the places where he can be the most useful. I have never excluded any liability. He then declared on the set of LCI that “the deadline of 2027 is a deadline from which no French person can consider themselves a foreigner. I am one and I do not consider myself a foreigner [à cette élection]. I have never given up the right to participate in major national events.”
François Bayrou was an unsuccessful candidate in the presidential election three times, in 2002, 2007 and 2012. The current political climate of distrust towards the macronie suggests a future match for the Élysée which was already seen in 2012, with Jean- Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen, still in office, the socialists supported by a great figure like François Hollande, the Republicans and who knows perhaps François Bayrou.