Laurent Wauquiez revealed on Thursday that he would not be part of the government. While he seemed on the right track for Beauvau, Retailleau seems to have a free hand. Unless…
Facing Republican deputies on Thursday evening, Laurent Wauquiezwho was leaving a meeting at Matignon, announced that he would not be part of the long-awaited Barnier government. The leader of the LR deputies in the Assembly even revealed that he had refused the post of Minister of the Economy. While he was said to be neck and neck with another leading figure of the right, the leader of the LR senators, Bruno Retailleaufor Beauvau, Laurent Wauquiez is now out of the game. At the same time, several media outlets, including BFMTV and The Figaroclaimed that the name of Bruno Retailleau was proposed by Michel Barnier to Emmanuel Macron for the Ministry of the Interior on Thursday evening, during his visit to the Élysée.
A profile that could be in line with the new Prime Minister’s plans for immigration and security. Bruno Retailleau was indeed largely involved in drafting the toughened version of the immigration law adopted at the end of 2023, before his group’s contributions were largely censored by the Constitutional Council. “The State has lost control,” he judged in an interview published on the LR party website. He “can no longer enforce his laws, protect those who serve them, contain uncontrolled immigration, control the neighborhoods where weapons of war are being fired upon, […] nor to secure its prisons,” he explained.
Retailleau favourite, two additional names cited
In the event that Bruno Retailleau is not ultimately selected, two other names were mentioned at one time: Frédéric Péchenard and Laurent Nuñez. The former director general of the national police, Frédéric Péchenard, would in fact have been pulled out of the hat, according to The Point. The man is close to Nicolas Sarkozy and he has already been approached by Emmanuel Macron for the Ministry of the Interior. In 2018, the man was offered a position under Christophe Castaner, which he refused due to lack of room to maneuver. But Frédéric Péchenard could be tempted to become the top cop in France, a position that would remind him of his professional career.
More recently, the name of Laurent Nuñez had also come up on the table. The Paris police prefect was one of the hypotheses, but this seems to be moving away, according to Politico. The man nevertheless worked as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Place Beauvau between 2018 and 2020 and made a career in the police until becoming Police Prefect of Marseille and then Paris. Did Laurent Nuñez refuse an offer because he felt better in his position than in a future government with an uncertain future? The question deserves to be asked.