January 2024. Barely has she unpacked her boxes on Rue de Valois when Rachida Dati announces that she will keep her role as mayor of the 7th arrondissement of the capital. A few days later, the new Minister of Culture even revealed her ambition to run for the mayor of Paris for the second time in 2026. Some people criticize the inelegance of the outing. Others, on the contrary, welcome the freedom of tone of the new star of the reshuffled team. The fact remains that within the Attal government, the former Minister of Justice is the only one to have granted itself the privilege of combining ministerial function and local executive mandate.
Nine months and a dissolution of the Assembly later, there are now three. Maybe even four. And for good reason, Gil Avérous, who initially wanted to step back, could ultimately remain mayor of Châteauroux in parallel with his new life as Minister of Sports. For personal reasons, his first assistant, to whom he asked to take over the interim role, was slow to accept the offer. “If she refuses, he will remain mayor so as not to disrupt his majority,” explains the entourage of Amélie Oudéa-Castera’s successor. Whether he submits or resigns, it doesn’t matter: his municipal compensation will be suspended. Just like that of his new colleagues, some of whom have already decided on the future of their local mandate.
Appointed to the Ministry of Daily Security on September 21, the mayor of Valencia, Nicolas Daragon, did not procrastinate for long. As soon as his entry into Michel Barnier’s team was announced, he promised on X: “I will continue to be committed to the service of Valence and all the people of Valentin.” Way of making it clear that he will remain chief magistrate of the Drôme prefecture. His counterpart at the Ministry of the Sea, Fabrice Loher, is keeping an eye on things: there is no question of removing from his biography the titles of “Mayor of Lorient” and “President of Lorient Agglomération”. Same parade on the side of his colleague in charge of Transport François Durovray, who will continue to chair the Essonne Departmental Council.
The local mandate, a fallback solution
But then, why cling to a mandate as a local elected official when you find yourself propelled to the prestigious and publicized rank of minister? This is perhaps a way of benefiting from the “trendy” label of a man in the field, close to the daily life of the French. “Not sure. It’s better to say that we were rather than to remain so and place ourselves in a situation of accumulation”, argues Florent Gougou, teacher-researcher in political science at Sciences Po Grenoble. The reasons for this incongruity therefore lie elsewhere, far from communication operations, nestled in the heart of an unprecedented political-institutional context, which makes the Barnier team the most fragile government of the Fifth Republic.
Because after jumping into the void on the last day of summer, how can you not fear damaging your career, even just a little? “Letting go of the reins of a town hall, a department or a region for a very fixed-term contract is not rational from a strategic point of view, because the day the government falls – and this one all the chances of falling quite quickly – the ministers who compose it find themselves with nothing”, points out Benjamin Morel, lecturer in public law at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas. Therefore, in such an uncertain political climate, the local mandate would embody a form of life insurance.
We thus understand better why the number of ministers with double hats has increased fourfold compared to the former government. But that is not the only explanation. “Macronist governments have always been composed mainly of a small elite from 2017 and 2022 who have never managed to establish themselves in local authorities. Which is not the case with the LR, which is very well anchored territorially” , underlines Benjamin Morel. While there were only seven within the Attal government to exercise a local executive mandate, there are today 17 under the supervision of Michel Barnier. The chances of a dilemma between ministerial function and local mandate arising thus naturally increase. Especially since the combination of the two is neither illegal nor unconstitutional.
Elected and appointed, not the same thing
If the 2014 law adopted at the instigation of François Hollande prohibits the accumulation of mandates, it only applies to French and European parliamentarians. Only deputies, senators and MEPs are therefore required to leave their local moroccos. Reason why Laurent Wauquiez, elected in Haute-Loire following the early legislative elections, was forced to resign from his mandate as president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region this summer. A title that the leader of the Republican Right could, however, have kept if he had entered the government – on condition of giving up his seat at the Palais Bourbon in advance.
To date, no text therefore prohibits a local elected official appointed as minister from remaining mayor, president of an urban area, department, or even region. A flexibility that comes down to one nuance: “A minister is not elected, but is appointed,” recalls political scientist Florent Gougou. In fact, strictly speaking, there is no accumulation of mandates. Only a telescoping of several functions. “In the same way that a mayor can lead an intermunicipal cooperation body, he can also be at the head of a ministry,” notes, for example, constitutionalist Benjamin Morel.
However, one question remains unanswered: does a good minister have the time to be a good mayor? “Thurifers of cumulation will say that Jacques Chaban-Delmas Prime Minister has not stopped being the excellent mayor of Bordeaux that he was before being appointed to Matignon,” smiles Florent Gougou. Also note that the weight of the mayor in the functioning of his municipality varies. “Paradoxically, being mayor of a small town is much more demanding than being mayor of a large city where the town hall services are very well organized,” assures Benjamin Morel.