Building a cabinet is no easy task, even less so for a Prime Minister. Even less under Emmanuel Macron, the President of the Republic who has always made a point of keeping an eye on certain appointments at Matignon. François Bayrou, who seeks to demonstrate his freedom vis-à-vis the Elysée, has been dealing with it for several days, on the sidelines of consultations with political parties and the constitution of his government; and above all surrounds himself with people he trusts. After Pierre-Emmanuel Portheret, one of his former colleagues recently appointed chief of staff, François Bayrou found his chief of staff in the person of Nicolas Pernot, a senior civil servant who already accompanied him to the Ministry of National Education in the years 1990.
With a National Assembly where it will be more than difficult for him to maneuver, the Prime Minister was also looking for a head of the parliamentary pole, a sort of advisor particularly responsible for relations between deputies, senators and Matignon. François Bayrou had even found the right person for this position: Augustin Augier, formerly of the UDF and son of the former Minister of European Affairs Marielle de Sarnez, a key figure in the centrist party, loyal among the followers of François Bayrou, who died in 2021. But Augustin Augier is above all the former right-hand man of Marine Tondelier. More than an advisor, a full-fledged strategist of the leader of the ecologists, a real gun-bearer whom she charged with going to chat with journalists as much as discussing with the other left-wing parties during the negotiations of the New Popular Front. last summer. A “spin doctor” who also led Eric Piolle’s unsuccessful campaign during the green primary in 2021.
Inappropriate behavior
A profile that François Bayrou wanted to recruit ardently, before some of his relatives advised him against it. Augustin Augier, contacted by L’Express, assures that he has not had any conversations “other than private” with the Prime Minister. Certainly, the strategist has spent his last years castigating the policies of Emmanuel Macron and his successive governments, in which the MoDem has always participated, but he is also at the heart of a controversy which cost him his position general secretary of the Greens. Marine Tondelier’s swordsman was excused from activity at the start of the school year after a report attributing inappropriate behavior to him, including comments deemed “homophobic” and “sexual harassment”. In a report from the Pisan cabinet, charged by the green management with carrying out the internal investigation, and which L’Express was able to consult, it is written, in a cautious conditional, that the facts alleged against Augustin Augier “could relate to acts of sexist” defined by law.
“In form and substance, this recruitment was not going well”, euphemizes a close friend of the Prime Minister. The latter therefore had to change his mind: it was ultimately Séverine de Compreignac, former general secretary of the MoDem group in the National Assembly, also close to François Bayrou, who would take care of the job at the head of the parliamentary center of Matignon.
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