Macron was said to be opposed to her entry into the government. Laurence Garnier is making a good entry into Michel Barnier’s team…
This is a name that has caused a lot of talk among the potential ministers chosen by Michel Barnier. On Thursday, when the Prime Minister submitted a list of 38 names to the President of the Republic to form the new government, he had the left and some of the Macronists howling, to the point that Emmanuel Macron had excluded him from the Family portfolio for which he was intended. Laurence Garnier, LR senator from Loire-Atlantique, will finally be Secretary of State for Consumer Affairs, under the supervision of Antoine Armand, the new Minister of the Economy.
“We might as well block her now and avoid a bad buzz for weeks,” a former minister had nevertheless confided on the case of Laurence Garnier. The woman who launched herself into politics in the Nantes region after several years of community involvement alongside young people with learning difficulties was not, in fact, unanimous. Some of her conservative positions have been exhumed. The senator from Loire-Atlantique notably supported the Manif pour tous, which opposed same-sex marriage in 2014. In 2016, as vice-president of the region in charge of Culture, she had the removal of subsidies for the Cinépride festival in Nantes voted, ensuring that the event promoted surrogacy, a practice banned in France. The organizers, for their part, defended that surrogacy was not part of their demands.
Laurence Garnier also fought against the constitutionalization of abortion. She declared at the time: “Our fellow citizens expect the government to take care of straightening out our country, rather than problems that do not exist.” The mother of four children, who claims to be Catholic, also voted against the bill aimed at making conversion therapies, which aim to try to change the sexual orientation of a homosexual, bisexual or lesbian person, a criminal offense.
Laurence Garnier removed from the Family
Laurence Garnier’s profile was difficult to accept, especially for a ministry in charge of family affairs. The mention of her name caused a lot of reaction on the left. “The French did not vote against the constitutionalization of abortion, against marriage for all, against the ban on conversion therapy. Laurence Garnier, Minister of the Family, would be yet another betrayal of the vote of French women and men,” denounced the socialist MP for Nantes, Karim Benbrahim, on X. The same tone for the rebellious MP, Manon Aubry, on X (“I have no more words. Just a crazy anger”), as well as for the socialist senator, Laurence Rossignol (“The names of parliamentarians who voted against the constitutionalization of abortion are circulating. Has no one drawn a red line?”).
The presidential camp was also wary of this potential nomination. “I feel bad for my France. I didn’t sign up for that. I’ve been vomiting for three hours,” a Renaissance parliamentarian testified to BFMTV. Will an appointment to a more technical or, shall we say, economic position like Consumer Affairs appease these critics? The next few weeks will tell.
Laurence Garnier, Bruno Retailleau, Patrick Hetzel…
Laurence Garnier is notably close to Bruno Retailleau, head of the LR in the Senate, who inherited the Interior and becomes the new strongman of the government. He also demonstrated in his time against marriage for all and voted against the constitutionalization of abortion this year. The same goes for Patrick Hetzel appointed Minister of Higher Education. “It’s going to be the government of the ‘Manif pour tous'”, Mathilde Panot, president of the rebellious deputies, had annoyed Friday on TF1.