Two heavyweights of the Republican party have their sights set on the position of Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau and Laurent Wauquiez. Only the Prime Minister will be able to decide between the two men, if the lucky winner is indeed among them.
The right officially gave the green light to the participation of men and women from its ranks in the Barnier government on September 11. A decision that is not a surprise since for a week the Republicans party (LR) has been campaigning to obtain ministerial positions. The names of certain heavyweights come up insistently and for very specific ministries. And one of the most coveted portfolios by the right is that of the Interior: it is also winking at Laurent Wauquiezpresident of the LR group of deputies in the Assembly, and Bruno Retailleau, head of the LR group in the Senate.
Both men would lead a strong, and tougher, right-wing policy on immigration and security if they landed at the ministry at Place Beauvau. But this could correspond with the political line, still unknown, of Prime Minister Michel Barnier who cited these two subjects among his priorities when he arrived at Matignon.
Wauquiez and Retailleau on horseback on security
Laurent Wauquiez, like Bruno Retailleau, has invested in the subjects dependent on the Ministry of the Interior. The former has been campaigning for years for more concrete measures in terms of security and more severe sanctions against delinquents and criminals. Sometimes with more radical ideas found at the crossroads of the right between the LR party and the nationalist right.
The second shares similar positions and ideas and was largely involved in drafting the toughened version of the immigration law adopted at the end of 2023, before his group’s contributions were largely censored by the Constitutional Council. “The State has lost control,” Bruno Retailleau also judged in an interview published on the LR party website : he “can no longer enforce his laws, protect those who serve them, contain uncontrolled immigration, control the neighborhoods where weapons of war are used, [..] nor to secure its prisons”. He also held Gérald Darmanin and Eric Dupont-Moretti, the resigning Ministers of the Interior and Justice, as responsible as Emmanuel Macron.
As potential Minister of the Interior, Laurent Wauquiez or Bruno Retailleau would satisfy the LR group, but could also receive the support of the extreme right. However, since the National Rally could at any time overthrow the Barnier government by voting a motion of censure, the Prime Minister has an interest in not alienating it. Conversely, pursuing a less harsh policy on security would not be enough to attract the support of the left half of the political spectrum, which is already promising to censure the Barnier government.
Who is the favourite for the Ministry of the Interior, Wauquiez or Retailleau?
Only one Minister of the Interior can be appointed and Laurent Wauquiez seems to be pushing to impose some of his wishes on the Prime Minister. But the ministerial ambitions of the former president of Auvergne Rhône-Alpes are recent, since the politician, who had initially opposed the appointment of an LR to Matignon, wanted to enjoy his role as group president in the Assembly to impose himself as the party leader with a view to the 2027 presidential election. The opening of ministerial positions to the right has, however, changed the situation: “if he doesn’t go, he’s going to create heavyweights” analyzed an LR advisor to Politico. Laurent Wauquiez, not wishing to see possible competitors emerge, therefore wants his place in the government. The fact remains that the bet is risky, because an overthrow of the Barnier government could weaken it and discredit it three years before the election, and even his role in the Assembly, which would be waiting for him in the warmth, could not be enough to restore sufficient credit to him.
Bruno Retailleau, for his part, has no presidential ambitions and has never been appointed minister, unlike Laurent Wauquiez who held various positions between 2007 and 2012 under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy. But the senator who has led the LR group for 20 years has shown experience and stability. Above all, a ministerial appointment would not serve as a springboard for him and a possible reversal would have no, or fewer, consequences on his political future.
Neither man has been guaranteed or promised a position by the Prime Minister who “collects everyone’s wishes, but promises nothing and nothing leaks” according to the confidences of an executive adviser to Politico. But the lucky one, whether it is Laurent Wauquiez, Bruno Retailleau or a surprise name could be received in the weekend before the nomination of the government promised “next week” by Michel Barnier on Wednesday September 11.