Emmanuel Macron has still not named a Prime Minister and the left is growing impatient but not discouraged. At the same time, a new name is circulating for the post of head of government.
The essentials
- The Olympic truce ended on Sunday evening. The appointment of a new Prime Minister is therefore widely expected. However, the President may not decide right away. Some close to the presidential camp are rather talking about the week of August 19 for this appointment.
- On the left, impatience is the order of the day. The president is called upon to make his choice and Lucie Castets’ candidacy continues. The latter sent a letter the day after the Olympics to all deputies, excluding RN, containing the roadmap for a possible government of the New Popular Front.
- The presidential camp wasted no time in responding: Gabriel Attal and Stéphane Séjourné each sent a letter to party leaders calling for a coalition.
- Emmanuel Macron still refuses to choose the senior civil servant and would rather find a “consensual” man or woman, who has “experience”, and “who pleases both the left and the right”, among others.
- For the time being, two other names are in the pipeline: Xavier Bertrand (LR) and Bernard Cazeneuve (La Convention). At the same time, the names of more technical profiles are being cited: Jean-Louis Borloo and Michel Barnier. The name of Valérie Pécresse has also started to circulate following a rapprochement with the president during the Olympic Games.
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10:45 – Sabrina Agresti-Roubache praises the merits of Valérie Pécresse
Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, the outgoing Secretary of State for Citizenship of France, said on LCI that the president of the Île-de-France region is “remarkably pragmatic” and “intelligent”. She was then asked about the possibility of appointing the right-wing elected official to Matignon. Without answering directly, she assured that Valérie Pécresse is a “republican among Republicans”. “What I think of Xavier Bertrand, I also think of Valérie Pécresse”, she added, Xavier Bertrand also being mentioned for Matignon. In any case, the next occupant of Matignon will “very probably” be right-wing, according to the outgoing Secretary of State.
10:30 – Opinions differ on Valérie Pécresse
If the name of Valérie Pécresse is circulating, in the Macronist camp, this hypothesis divides. “I heard about the rumor, but it would make no sense. Most of our deputies do not like her. Only the right wing will perhaps be happy,” exclaimed a ministerial advisor to Le Figaro. Others seem to think that it is plausible: a member of the government is thus convinced that Valérie Pécresse “has every chance.” An LR executive even assures that “after the successful Olympic sequence, she cannot simply return to her region.”
09:56 – Valérie Pécresse mentioned for Matignon?
A new name is circulating for the post of Prime Minister. It is that of Valérie Pécresse. If the president of the Ile-de-France region has not mentioned it herself, she is said to have gotten closer to Emmanuel Macron during the Olympic Games. Emmanuel Macron thanked her during his interview with L’Equipe on Monday, recalling that they were nevertheless adversaries in the 2022 presidential election but that they managed to “work together”. According to a close friend of Valérie Pécresse to Le Figaro, “something is brewing with Emmanuel Macron”, adding that the politician has stopped speaking ill of the head of state. The two protagonists are said to have met several times at the Elysée Palace recently.
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How soon will the new government be appointed?
Emmanuel Macron held a “political truce” for the duration of the Olympic Games, while Gabriel Attal’s government resigned on July 16. The President of the Republic had estimated that no new government would be appointed before “mid-August”, preferring “stability” for the duration of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Given the composition of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic has set himself the task of finding a Prime Minister capable of gathering the support of at least 289 deputies, in order to ensure stability. The same applies to the ministers that the latter will then have to propose. Otherwise, the new government as a whole would be exposed to a motion of censure which, if voted for by more than half of the elected representatives, would lead to the overthrow of the ministerial team. It would therefore be necessary to start all over again.
The problem is that Emmanuel Macron will have to accommodate all sensitivities, from the left of course, from the center naturally, but also from the right. If the NFP came out on top, the head of state has already ruled out governing with the LFI deputies. So out goes these sixty elected officials, who could be compensated by the sixty LR who should once again join the Palais Bourbon. Finding personalities who suit the ecologists, socialists, communists, macronists and republicans will not be easy. Not to mention the programmatic points on which everyone will have to agree. The negotiations are still expected to be long and complex. Suffice to say that Gabriel Attal should make extra…
So, if the name of Gabriel Attal’s replacement was starting to take on the appearance of an open secret, the President of the Republic could speed up on this matter. According to information from Le Parisien, Emmanuel Macron could designate the name of the new occupant of Matignon “around August 15”, “without excluding that it could go faster”. Finally, according to Politico, the Council of Ministers once mentioned on August 12 is no longer on the agenda. Given the relatively busy schedule of the Head of State, expected in Brégançon for several commemorations, the status quo could continue at least until August 18, or even until the end of August.
What could be the profile of the future Prime Minister?
Emmanuel Macron is taking advantage of a summer break from Fort Brégançon to give new clues about the profile of the new Prime Minister. Clear elements are now emerging for the person who will take over from Gabriel Attal. The head of government will have to be “a man or woman, consensual, who pleases both the left and the right”, we can read in the columns of Le Monde. According to the Elysée, this personality will also have to give off “a scent of cohabitation”. This is an important clue about the composition of the new government and its political color. Especially after Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to see the NFP candidate, Lucie Castets, at Matignon. The newspaper Le Monde also reveals that the posture of “the omnipresent”, adopted by Emmanuel Macron could now transform into a “Mitterrandian attitude”.
On Wednesday, July 31, our colleagues at Politico also indicated that another option could catch Emmanuel Macron’s attention, even if Xavier Bertrand’s rating seems higher than ever in the race for Matignon. A minister confided to them that a profile “retired from political life”, “in any case closer to the end than the beginning” of his career could hold the rope. He notably cites former ministers from the Republican right: Michel Barnier or Jean-Louis Borloo.
The LR president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand, himself, is even supported by several figures from the center and the right. “He is a great republican among the Republicans and a great regional president” declared on this subject Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, resigning Secretary of State for the City, on July 30th. The resigning Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin spoke of him “a politician with very great competence”, he could “greatly serve France”, a day earlier. Concerning the main person concerned, there is no direct contact with the President of the Republic. Bertrand and Macron exchange, certainly, but through “emissaries” according to information from Le Parisien.
The President of the Republic is consulting at least on a second name for the post of Prime Minister, it is Bernard Cazeneuve. The former tenant of Matignon under François Hollande remains however much less publicized than Xavier Bertrand, and much more discreet about his new political aspirations. However, according to information from Le Parisien, the latter recently spoke with the head of state “whom he had already seen discreetly at the Elysée in the spring (well before the dissolution). A profile that could quite satisfy the consensual dimension sought by Emmanuel Macron to replace Gabriel Attal.
On Sunday, August 4, the resigning Minister for Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, also mentioned three names from the Republicans to fill the post of Prime Minister in place of Gabriel Attal. Unsurprisingly, Xavier Bertrand, the President of the Hauts-de-France region. Then Michel Barnier, former minister we told you about in this article on July 31st in the context of a possible technical Prime Minister. Finally, the name of Gérard Larcher, current President of the Senate, was also mentioned by Aurore Bergé to join Matignon. The three “have solid experience of government, Parliament, and compromise,” believes the Macronist minister, from the right.