This second five-year term like no other is far from over, yet 2027 and its cohort of putative candidates are already moving forward. Behind the scenes, some learn to sketch out plot twists, others familiarize themselves with the art of conspiracy, in short, everyone prepares post-Emmanuel Macron with rigor and determination. The political department of L’Express offers to help you follow, thanks to a weekly meeting on our websitethe progress of those ambitious people who hope to climb, quickly and without injury, the steps of power.
Bruno Le Maire and Aurélien Rousseau: the privileged people of Matignon
The Minister of the Economy and the Minister of Health have one thing in common: they held the same position at Matignon, 15 years apart. Bruno Le Maire was chief of staff to Dominique de Villepin, from 2006 to 2007, while Aurélien Rousseau carried out the same functions with Elisabeth Borne between May 2022 and July 2023. Thus the Monday which followed the last reshuffle of the Summer 2023, the two ministers, one of whom was newly appointed, met in their former home to participate in the first government seminar organized by Elisabeth Borne for her new team. While they were chatting in the pleasant garden on rue de Varenne, they were surprised to see a member of the Matignon staff bring them their coffee in two pretty Sèvres porcelain cups, usually reserved for special occasions. Privilege offered by the house to its former collaborators to show them their difference. And Rousseau exclaimed: “It’s sure that it’s an advantage to know how to run an administration when you’re a minister.”
Attal seen by his little comrades
The political return of the new Minister of Education leaves no one indifferent within the government. “Attal is doing Attal, that is to say he is lateralizing, notes one of his colleagues. At Bercy, he focused on fraud rather than on the budget, a subject that is so much more complex; now he talks about the abaya rather than the school level or the lack of teachers. Does it work, the question is how long does it last?”
Senate: Macron jaded
Emmanuel Macron deals with the parties, invites the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate – but has few illusions. Once the senatorial elections have passed (September 24), once Gérard Larcher has undoubtedly strengthened his positions, the head of state does not believe at all in détente. “We don’t expect much from the new Senate,” sighs an advisor from the inner circle.
Bolloré sulks Bardella
The president of the RN likes dinners. Particularly those where he can meet people. The young leader of the National Rally would, for example, have loved to meet Vincent Bolloré. The latter knows Marine Le Pen from their shared Breton networks. Despite the requests, however, he never deigned to meet the MEP…
Dussopt, Guedj… Friends like socialists!
Does Olivier Dussopt have a grudge against Jérôme Guedj since the pension battle where the socialist embarrassed the executive by putting the minister at odds with the story of the minimum pension? Like the “Bercy dialogues” promised last year and whose objective was to bring together the oppositions before the budgetary debates to avoid any squabble in the hemicycle (and the use of 49.3), the government planned to organize the “Comptes de Ségur” on September 14. Dialogues between several ministers (including Dussopt, Bergé and Cazenave) and representatives of each parliamentary group to best prepare the next Finance Bill on Social Security (PLFSS) and – who knows – find points of agreement .
The PS had warned that it would send “Inspector Guedjet” (that’s his nickname), a specialist in the matter. Problem, these meetings have been postponed to September 18. Coincidence of the calendar: the whole Nupes organizes its back-to-school seminar, in Ivry-sur-Seine, that day. A bad fate befell Jérôme Guedj, who quips: “I don’t dare believe in malice.” We do.
From May 10, 81 to today…
The Deffontaine family is a (very) large family of notables from Hauts-de-France. In May 2023, a huge cousinade was held bringing together 830 people! And among all these parents, these brothers, these sisters, these great-great-grandchildren and other grandparents, a young communist: Léon Deffontaine, 29 years old. The boy, faithful lieutenant of Fabien Roussel, will also lead the PCF list in the next European elections, in 2024. What the history of the Deffontaines does not say is that Léon’s grandfather and his relatives were at two fingers away from fleeing to Belgium, on May 10, 1981.
At the time, the election of François Mitterrand caused a wave of panic in the right-wing electorate that Michel Poniatowski tried to remobilize with a phrase that remains famous: “If the left wins, we will see the Soviet tanks in Place de Concord.” All’s well that ends well: 43 years later, Léon Deffontaine understands that his father, the son of the Belgian political refugee, will soon join the PCF.