DENORMANDY. A credible candidate for the post of Prime Minister, Julien Denormandie is very close to Emmanuel Macron, whom he has known for ten years. Portrait of a Minister of Agriculture not really intended to take the light.
They were ten. In the end, only one remains. And it could be the future prime minister. Julien Denormandie is one of the “Mormons” of Macronie, one of these young shoots who, on May 14, 2017, during the investiture of Emmanuel Macron, posed all together on the steps of the Élysée for a photo symbol of their hard work and devoted to the one who was elected, a week earlier, new President of the Republic. For this band of thirty-year-olds approaching their forties who included, in addition to the current Minister of Agriculture, Sibeth Ndiaye, Benjamin Griveaux, Stéphane Séjourné, Ismaël Émilien, Jean-Marie Girier, Richard Ferrand or even Christophe Castaner (although all older both), this entrance to the palace was the culmination of an intense campaign. But five years later, no one holds a ministerial position, directly or indirectly. Except one: Julien Denormandie. A profile that Emmanuel Macron could appoint to Matignon.
Julien Denormandie Prime Minister, a credible hypothesis?
At 41, could Julien Denormandie become the 25th Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic? His name would be part of the narrow list from which Emmanuel Macron must choose. For the native of Cahors, this would be a reward for loyalty to the Head of State, well beyond the first five-year term which has just passed (read below). A man in the shadows, silent, Julien Denormandie is no less hardworking. Quite the contrary. His “techno” profile and expert in the files could plead in his favor, in the event that Emmanuel Macron seeks to surround himself with a particularly meticulous head of government. And with whom he can exchange without language of wood on the subjects. “Julien can talk about anything with Emmanuel” had confided a close friend of the President of the Republic to Liberation. “The president is listening” had abounded a framework of the LREM party in the JDD.
If the two men are familiar with each other, Julien Denormandie could suffer from his image of “Macron bis” which is attached to him. Some describe the discreet quadra as a carbon copy of the Head of State, the latter considering him “like his son” according to Senator François Patriat on RMC. A profile that would not overshadow Emmanuel Macron, but perhaps not necessarily the best to carry out the major societal reforms at the start of the five-year term, starting with the pension reform which will once again bring down the unions in the street. So, still a little patience for “Idéfix” as he would be nicknamed, especially since he never faced the test of direct universal suffrage, having never been elected? “Macron will finish his second term with Julien at Matignon” predicts a presidential adviser in Paris Match.
Julien Denormandie, a discreet rising minister
If today his name is cited to become Prime Minister, Julien Denormandie almost never entered the government. And for good reason. One of the architects of Emmanuel Macron’s arrival in power (read below) was about to join the private sector before being caught by the sleeve by the new President of the Republic, who entrusted him with the secretariat of State to the Minister for Territorial Cohesion.
At the end of June 2017, the one who graduated from the National School of Rural Engineering, Water and Forests won a ministerial position. Its prerogatives then consist in supporting Jacques Mézard in the policy of the city, town planning or housing. Despite the implementation of tax exemption schemes or the mobility lease, this anti-light suffered the wrath of budget cuts for the social housing sector by being whistled at the annual congress of the sector for his first year at the ministry. No matter, he immerses himself in the files, advances and manages to convince the professionals in the field. “He behaved like a very good student, he listened and took a lot of notes”, explained André Yché, president of CDC Habitat, to Opinion. Enough to turn the tide despite maintaining budget cuts, although less thanks to its action.
The one who was promoted to Minister of Cities and Housing in October 2018, under the authority of the Minister of Territorial Cohesion Jacqueline Gourault, also had to assume the €5 reduction in APL, although opposed to the measure . An early walker, Julien Denormandie took off in the summer of 2020 when Emmanuel Macron appointed him Minister of Agriculture for the Castex government. The agronomist then carries support measures for farmers, authorizes the use of neonicotinoid pesticides to ensure the harvest of beets and intends to reform crop insurance. Obviously not without attracting criticism, despite its discretion.
Biography of Julien Denormandie
Coming from a family whose uncle was a forest engineer straight out of the National School of Rural Engineering and Forests, Julien Denormandie took the same path by joining AgroParis Tech in 2000. He was then 20 years old. Two years later, he followed the same course as his uncle and, graduating after two more years of study, joined the Department of External Economic Relations of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. From 2004 to 2008, he then saw four ministers at the head of the portfolio (Hervé Gaymard, Thierry Breton, Jean-Louis Borloo and Christine Lagarde). After spending two years at the French Embassy in Cairo as an economic adviser, he joined the Directorate General of the Treasury, responsible for the Middle East.
It is in 2012 that his career will accelerate. Recruited as an adviser to Nicole Bricq, Minister of Foreign Trade, but also to Pierre Moscovici, Minister of Economy and Finance, Julien Denormandie must work with … Emmanuel Macron, then Secretary General of the Elysée. A two-year collaboration that almost resulted in the creation of a start-up linking education and digital, supported by a certain Ismaël Emilien. The project fell through when Emmanuel Macron won Bercy in the summer of 2014. In his suitcases, the future President of the Republic embarked Julien Denormandie, appointing him deputy chief of staff. Again, he will remain in office for two years.
It was then that over the months the project of a candidacy for the presidential election matured in the mind of Emmanuel Macron. Julien Denormandie leaves Bercy to launch En Marche. He drafts the statutes of the new party, holds the post of deputy secretary general alongside Richard Ferrand and works from all points of view to bring LREM to power. With success. A victory crowned with ministerial awards. Until becoming the head of government?