The Minister of Higher Education and Research Sylvie Retailleau presented her resignation to Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, December 20, due to a “deep disagreement” on the measures concerning students in the immigration law, but she been refused, his entourage announced this Thursday. Her resignation, presented on the sidelines of the Council of Ministers, “was refused” and the minister “remains in post”, specified the same source. The same day, the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau left the government irrevocably, also in disagreement with this law.
The President of the Republic and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne “assured the minister that the measures concerning students” in this law, in particular the deposit required from foreign students, “would be revised if they were not censored by the Constitutional Council “, according to those around him. Emmanuel Macron judged Wednesday evening in the show C to youon France 5, that this guarantee was “not a good idea”, but that the provisions which did not please “did not justify blocking everything”.
After the adoption of this controversial law, with the voices of the right and the far right, Sylvie Retailleau had “reminded the Prime Minister of her deep disagreement on the measures concerning students”, according to her office, then she heard the “doubts” expressed on this subject by Elisabeth Borne on France Inter on Wednesday morning. According to Sylvie Retailleau’s entourage, the president and the Prime Minister “consider that this is a measure that does not suit them.” On the occasion of the presentation of his resignation, they “indicated to him that the president wanted to talk about it” on France 5 the same evening. “The president and the Prime Minister refused the resignation by renewing their confidence in him to carry out the projects of the future,” added the same source. Other ministers have expressed their unease after the adoption of the immigration law.
New to politics
Physicist Sylvie Retailleau, 58, was new to politics when she became Minister of Higher Education and Research in May 2022 after heading the prestigious Paris-Saclay University. She succeeded this ministry from Frédérique Vidal, another university. She is notably in charge of Parcoursup, the often contested post-baccalaureate guidance tool, and her main battle is to upgrade student scholarships, to fight against the precariousness of young people. Emmanuel Macron also recently charged her with reforming the French public research landscape.
Originally from Nice, Sylvie Retailleau – wife of Stéphane Retailleau, professor – is a specialist in the laws of physics. He is a leader in his field. She led a career in higher education where she began as a lecturer in 1992 at the University of Paris-Sud, now Paris-Saclay. In March 2020, she was elected president of this newly created university.