On June 20, she is still Minister of Labor. In full force, if you please. In the middle of the legislative campaign, Catherine Vautrin is not yet saddled with the unsightly description of “resigned”, which now covers each of her speeches. But that day, the defeat of the presidential camp is already looming, no one believes in her victory. “I feel that people look at me differently”, she smiles. Here, no acrimony. Just a lucid and amused look at her fragile status, which has since deteriorated with the resignation of the Attal government. Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever be the same again.
The face of power is the same. Gabriel Attal congratulates the French athletes at the Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra rejoices everywhere in the popular success of the competition. But these “resigned” ministers are evolving in a suspended time. All attached to their former life, but also eager to embrace the one to come. Talk to Marie Guévenoux (Overseas) and Fadila Khattabi (Disabled People), defeated in the legislative elections but forced to stay in their posts. “It’s hard for them,” notes a colleague, re-elected in July. While some ministers already have one foot in the Assembly and are involved in their respective groups, others remain on the quayside after the verdict of the ballot boxes. “Either you’re in, or you’re out,” confided a defeated minister to an advisor. Resigning, with separate salaries. The minister-deputies have a parliamentary salary, the others continue to receive their – higher – salary as members of the government.
“The emulation is relatively low, but you have to keep the machine running”
But no jealousy! All are responsible for dealing with “current affairs”, a term of absolute administrative coldness. So far from politics. Two notes from the General Secretariat of the government, dated July 2 and 19, help them to grasp this republican custom reducing them to the role of senior civil servants. Goodbye to the Council of Ministers and the entrance to the Elysée in front of the cameras. Hello to the apolitical “decisions strictly necessary for the continuity of the State or the functioning of public services”, since “any government would have taken them”. In short, “urgent affairs” or those dictated by “normal operation of the State”.
The obvious, in defiance of political choices. Thus, the Minister of Housing Guillaume Kasbarian, with his avowed liberal streak, puts his convictions in the closet. On the agenda: crisis management – such as building fires – or issuing decrees to guarantee the legal security of owners and tenants. “The emulation is relatively weak, but we have to keep the machine running,” he confides. When you are a minister, you have to do the job until the last minute.”
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra mobilized for the Olympic Games
Not everyone is in the same boat. There are those who are under the radar. Take Marie Lebec, Minister for Relations with Parliament. She herself smiles at her idleness, in the middle of her summer break. The dissolution put an end to all the work in progress during the 16th legislature. Like this reform of teacher training, undertaken by the Minister of Higher Education Sylvie Retailleau. This figure of civil society has cancelled many trips, even if she went, like several of her colleagues, to the Club France to celebrate the French medallists at the Olympic Games.
The Games give relief to the end of Amélie Oudéa-Castéra’s journey. The Minister of Sports is on the move, going from one event to another to encourage the French athletes. She ensures the smooth running of the Games, she who was appointed in 2022 to prepare for the event. “Nothing has changed,” she confides to L’Express. My action and my daily life are the same. With a role as number 10 within the government machine when it comes to the Games.” The former Minister of Education swears that she does not suffer from this title of “resigned”, a signature of planned obsolescence. “It is reassuring for those involved in the Games to see a minister who knows the files and has the trust of the interlocutors.” Her media coverage places her on the fringes of her colleagues, all asked by the General Secretariat of the government to reduce their communication to the bare minimum. Will she be in office during the Paralympic Games, scheduled between August 28 and September 8? Only the head of state, master of the clocks, knows.
Darmanin, Le Maire and Guévenoux mobilized
Other ministers still enjoy media exposure. Sometimes because of their functions. Gérald Darmanin is on the front line in organizing the Olympic Games, a major security challenge. Bruno Le Maire is preparing the broad outlines of the 2025 budget, expected on October 1. He spoke on Tuesday with Eric Coquerel and Charles de Courson, chairman of the finance committee and general rapporteur for the budget. “His text can obviously be amended, so there is no ministerial coup. He presents the best copy he thinks of,” his entourage specifies. His successor is free to take up these recommendations. Bercy is an octopus, its tentacles embrace many subjects. Thus, Bruno Le Maire is looking into the compensation of traders affected by the Olympic Games or New Caledonia, where the State is extending and strengthening aid to businesses. The Minister in charge of Overseas Territories, Marie Guévenoux, is in the archipelago until Saturday, in particular to ensure the government’s support for the police forces deployed there. “She has always conceived her political commitment in a collective manner. She is focused on her mission, without paying much attention to her personal situation,” insists the entourage of the minister, defeated in the legislative elections. The emergencies do not stop. Heatwave episodes punctuate the summer period, putting the Minister of Health Frédéric Valletoux and his counterpart in Agriculture Marc Fesneau on the front line.
Ministers and advisors are moving forward in this role against type, for an indefinite period. No one knows when this ambivalent period will end, where politics fades behind management. Where the sense of State prevails over creativity. Like this fallen minister, who is taking care to prepare files for her successor. “We are making sure that everything is square for the start of the school year, even if we will probably no longer be there… The services, they will always be there”, notes the entourage of a minister. This spirit of responsibility. Everyone is thinking about the future. “Some see business leaders and headhunters”, says a ministerial advisor. Others are projecting themselves onto this new assembly, an elusive cauldron. Gabriel Attal has taken the lead of the Ensemble pour la République group. Another, however, has given up on running for the head of a commission, given the lack of a majority in the Palais Bourbon. In a few weeks, everyone will have a “full-time” replacement this time. But there is no guarantee that these ministers will have more room for maneuver than the “resigning” ones.
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