This second five-year term like no other is far from over, yet 2027 and its cohort of putative candidates are already moving forward. This last reshuffle with Gabriel Attal at its head – and that puts Rachida Dati back in the saddle – is a new turning point. Behind the scenes, some are learning to dodge tripping, others are familiarizing themselves with the art of conspiracy, in short, everyone is preparing for the post-Emmanuel Macron era with rigor and determination. The L’Express political department offers to help you follow, thanks to a weekly meeting on our websitethe progress of those ambitious people who hope to climb, quickly and without injury, the steps of power.
Interviews: Matignon’s instructions to ministers
Interviews are out of fashion. Matignon instructed members of the government to favor “Anglo-Saxon articles” with quotes from ministers over interviews that are too often soporific. A way also to insist on the priority of the moment: the obsession with results rather than the effects of announcements. An instruction that Gabriel Attal applies to himself, as noted Opinion.
Hollande presses where it hurts
François Hollande takes advantage of his multiple trips on French territory to question the socialist deputies he meets: “In 2022, with Nupes, you campaigned to make Jean-Luc Mélenchon Prime Minister. If he were head of government today, how would it behave in the face of the invasion of Ukraine and in the management of the October 7 attacks in Israel, given its declarations on these subjects? Are you sure that you would be comfortable? “
The “war room” is over!
The initial communication from the Elysée had been thunderous in the “war room”: the Council of Ministers, with a small team, was now standing around a small table in the green room, next to Emmanuel Macron’s office. Except… it’s over. For three weeks, the Wednesday meeting has taken place again on the ground floor, due to the large number of participants: the entire team when the government was expanded, then with delegate ministers concerned by the subjects of the day the next two times. Will ministers ever find their way back to the first floor of the palace?
Mayor-Vautrin, things are heating up
The interview with Bruno Le Maire at World, with in particular his little sentence (“For my part, I consider that the State should regain control of unemployment insurance definitively”), if it was indeed reread by Matignon, startled the Minister of Labor, of health and solidarity Catherine Vautrin, who had not been informed of it. “What Bruno says only binds Bruno for the moment,” underlines those close to the minister, who recall that the Labor Code, in its article L1, clearly defines the role of trade union organizations in the context of social negotiations. At the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, surrounded on his left by Bruno Le Maire and on his right by Catherine Vautrin, Emmanuel Macron recalled the need for government solidarity.
Roussel-Rousseau: the clitoris of peace
Will history remember that a clitoris reconciled them? Last September, during the traditional award ceremony for political humor, Sandrine Rousseau was nominated for her tweet “the visibility of the clitoris is a feminist fight”. Once the ceremony was over, Fabien Roussel went to chat about the organ in question with the person concerned, just to show that he knew a thing or two about it. “Since then, things have gotten warmer,” murmur those close to the two, (very) amused.
Mariani, a choice that questions
The heads of the list in the European elections will debate on March 14 on Public Senate. Well, almost all of them. Jordan Bardella prefers to skip the test. He should be replaced by RN MEP Thierry Mariani, often portrayed as “pro-Russian”. The presidential camp is surprised by this choice, in the midst of a diplomatic escalation with Vladimir Putin. “It’s hubris, judges a Macronist strategist. They think that nothing can reach them. It’s a provocation, but they are playing with fire.” MEP Gilles Boyer adds: “He is one of their most attackable candidates. This puts them back into a very pro-Russian situation.”
Blum at the Pantheon: be careful, a private preserve
What was Boris Vallaud’s surprise to read in the press that Caroline Janvier, Renaissance deputy for Loiret, was “working” on the transfer of Léon Blum, the man of the Popular Front, to the Panthéon, without the pink house having been made aware of such an approach. “He was able to rise above partisan and sometimes sectarian quarrels to defend a certain number of values,” defended Caroline Janvier in The Central Republic (the 21st of February). The PS deputy, very upset, therefore went to express his emotion to his Macronist colleague. Hands off ! And in front of L’Express, Vallaud smiled (yellow): “I imagine they will explain to us that he did Macron before his time? Good luck!”
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