Elisabeth Borne. Elisabeth Borne will go on Wednesday, July 6 to the National Assembly and then to the Senate, to successively deliver two general policy speeches.
The date of Elisabeth Borne’s first general policy speech before the new National Assembly is finally known. The Prime Minister will go to the Assembly on Wednesday July 6 to deliver a statement at 3 p.m., Matignon announced to AFP on Thursday June 30. This declaration will be read at the same time by a minister before the senators at the Luxembourg Palace. Elisabeth will nevertheless go to the Senate in the evening, for a second speech scheduled for 9 p.m. It is still unclear whether these two speeches will be followed by a vote of confidence: according to Matignon, the decision has not yet been taken.
The speech of general policy before one of the chambers of Parliament is provided for by article 50-1 of the Constitution. This provides that the government may “make a declaration on a given subject which gives rise to debate and may, if it so decides, be the subject of a vote without incurring its liability”. The vote of confidence is therefore not an obligation and several Prime Ministers have chosen not to have recourse to it, in the absence of an absolute majority in favor of the Assembly. This was the case, for example, of Edith Cresson in 1991. The opposition, the left in the lead, urges Elisabeth Borne to test her legitimacy before the new Assembly. “At this stage, nothing is stopped and all the options are on the table”, declared Matignon on Wednesday June 29.
Elisabeth Borne confirmed at Matignon
Under the fire of criticism since the legislative elections, Elisabeth Borne has finally been confirmed in her role as Prime Minister: “I have decided to confirm my confidence in Elisabeth Borne”, declared Emmanuel Macron on June 25 in an interview with theAFP. The head of government therefore resumed her place in the negotiations with parliamentarians, even if she received instructions and clarifications from the head of state before exchanging with the opposition and unsurprisingly the “basis of these discussions” will be that of the “framework of the presidential project and that of the presidential majority, which may be amended or enriched”. There is therefore no question of giving up on the pension reform because the majority does not budge: we must “work longer, as all our neighbors do, taking into account working conditions and therefore the rules of hardship, taking into account count the long careers”.
Tuesday, June 21, Elisabeth Borne presented the President of the Republic with a courtesy resignation, as is customary after legislative elections. Resignation refused by Emmanuel Macron. An unexpected decision on the part of the President of the Republic, when custom dictates that it be accepted, then that the Head of State appoints his Prime Minister again a few days later. However, several elements could justify the choice of Emmanuel Macron. Starting with the will of his head of government to remain in office to be able to carry out some hot issues. “The Prime Minister pleaded to stay in order to have the tools to deal with the situation and the emergencies of the French, which we could not do with a resigning government and in the management of current affairs”, indicated the entourage of the Matignon tenant at World. Among the topics of the moment that Elisabeth Borne would like to advance: the revaluation of the point of index of civil servants, the extension of the car bonus, the launch of the flash mission on emergencies in the hospital or even texts related to Parcoursup.
Faced with all these files, Emmanuel Macron would not want to have a “prevented” government because of his status as a resigner. A status that could have lasted, while the future ministerial team takes shape. Because the Head of State does not like to rush. He made this clear after his re-election, taking three weeks to appoint his new government. If he had accepted the resignation of Elisabeth Borne, haste would have dictated his choices because the head of state then chained trips abroad.
Elisabeth Borne was appointed Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron on May 16, 2022, after weeks of speculation following the latter’s re-election on April 24. The Head of State had assured a few days before this appointment that he wanted by his side “someone sensitive to social, environmental and productive issues”, a personality “embodiing both ‘renewal’ and at the same time time ‘someone solid, capable of doing 20 hours in front of fifteen million viewers and of holding in the cauldron of the Assembly, during questions to the government'”, also said the entourage of the head of state. All with “an asserted ecological sensitivity because Emmanuel Macron has promised to appoint a ‘prime minister in charge of ecological planning'” (Le Monde).
Elisabeth Borne thus imposed herself as the one who ticked the most boxes in this equation. It even became obvious in the very last days before his appointment, especially after the outcry provoked in the majority by the hypothesis Catherine Vautrin, former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy who had fought against marriage for all during the quinquennium by Francois Hollande.
Who is Elisabeth Borne? Express Biography
Before being appointed Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne was Minister of Labor in the Castex government, after having held the portfolios of Transport and Ecological Transition since 2017. Relatively little known to the French, which can constitute “an asset” in her new functions, it was however “more so than were Édouard Philippe and especially Jean Castex” when they arrived at Matignon.
A graduate of Polytechnique, a tenacious technician, deemed loyal, Elisabeth Borne is in any case perceived by Macronie as having proven herself in government throughout the last five-year term. This former chief of staff of Ségolène Royal, who was also prefect and leader of large public companies such as the RATP, also has the merit of belonging to the left wing of the majority, an asset in the run-up to the legislative elections and the he hour when new social reforms are announced, starting with “the mother of the battles” on pensions.