Before Michel Barnier’s appointment, Éric Dupond-Moretti said he wanted to remain Minister of Justice. But the new Prime Minister might want to place a LR leader in this prestigious position, unless he prefers another right-wing personality?
A few days after the second round of the legislative elections, Éric Dupond-Moretti spoke frankly about the change of government that was looming. “I would have some difficulty leaving this ministry because I love it and I love the people I have worked with for four years,” he explained on the airwaves of RTL the Minister of Justice, on July 11. “If I have to leave, because the Prime Minister does not want me to remain a minister, I will leave. The pain that is mine, which I have just expressed, perhaps shamelessly, is superfluous and has absolutely no interest compared to the higher interest of our country,” he added, however.
Two months later and a Prime Minister finally appointed in the person of Michel Barnier, it is time to make predictions. The government should be announced next week, the new tenant of Matignon has announced in recent days. So, will Éric Dupond-Moretti stay in office? Who will replace him at the Ministry of Justice if he were to leave the ship? “In the little game of speculation”, The Point put forward the name of Bruno Retailleau on Sunday. The nomination of Michel Barnier having reshuffled the cards, the leader of the LR senators would be expected for different positions, such as the Interior, the Economy and… Justice.
“It would oscillate between the Interior and Justice,” an LR senator said on Tuesday Public Senate. But a barnierist was leaning towards it on Sunday, in his confidences to Pointrather for Beauvau: “Bruno embodies a hard right, that might displease the magistrates, who are still very much on the left…” Problem, if Bruno Retailleau was appointed to the Ministry of the Interior, there would be “no question of keeping a Dupond-Moretti or someone who is not on his line as Minister of Justice”, warned Les Républicains. However, another close friend of the Prime Minister brushed aside on Tuesday to Public Sénat that, according to his information, the hypothesis of Bruno Retailleau at Justice seemed rather likely.
Unless a completely different name finally comes out of the hat? Lawyer Francis Szpiner, elected LR senator since 2023, has indeed also been mentioned. A loyal supporter of Michel Barnier from the very beginning, he is described by a Les Républicains parliamentarian as “the right-wing Éric Dupond-Moretti”, relays Public Sénat. But “if we have a Retailleau in Justice, we cannot have a Szpiner in Justice too”, concedes this same source. So why not the resigning Minister of Labor, Catherine Vautrin? This is the latest hypothesis put forward in the indiscretions of the Point at the end of the week. Coming from the LR, she would have the favor of Emmanuel Macron, who would like to keep her.