portrait of the woman who is at the head of “Beauvau of the left bank”

Catherine Vautrin is not a woman to waste her time. His sentences are crafted. Impactful! His rapid speech rate. Recognizable by her platinum blonde bob and her large round glasses, this elected representative of “the territories”, as she claims, has never forgotten this advice that Jean-Louis Borloo slipped into her ear during her first appointment in a government – that of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, in March 2004, as Secretary of State for Integration and Equal Opportunities.

“Joining the government is like playing a football match: you never know when the referee will whistle the end of your playing time, so give the best of yourself, to have no regrets,” he said. had affirmed his supervisory minister, then in charge of Employment. Since then, she has made it one of her mottos – almost an art of living -, not hesitating to bring it out regularly. François Durovray, one of his deputy ministers in charge of Transport, knows something about this. It was the first thing she said to him when he arrived at the beginning of the fall. His advisors laugh about it.

She took up residence at the Hôtel de Roquelaure

Time eases sorrows

Following her re-election, in May 2022, Emmanuel Macron seriously considered placing her in Matignon, in order to make an opening to the right – at the head of Grand Reims, the elected official was a long-time member of the UMP, then of the LR , before returning his card in June 2019 because he no longer felt “in line with the party line”. A meeting was even organized on rue de Varenne with Jean Castex, still host of the place. But, under pressure from his left wing – reluctant to the idea of ​​being governed by an elected official formerly opposed to marriage for all – the president pulled the plug at the last minute, and appointed Élisabeth Borne.

Fortunately, time softens the pain. Promotions too! Last January, Catherine Vautrin was appointed, in the Attal government, to head a “super ministry”, bringing together Labor, Health and Solidarity. Grateful, she today displays “unfailing loyalty” to the head of state. “SPF” – without a fixed political party – as she likes to say, the minister has since taken her card from Renaissance, the presidential party. “I am an activist, like any other,” she explains to us. Displayed modesty. Claimed even in the choice of furniture for its new office in Roquelaure. Nothing has changed since the departure of Christophe Béchu, the former tenant of the premises.

Two relief maps

She had barely placed on either side of the room two relief maps from the National Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information – one of France, the other of Corsica. “She had done the same in the former ministry she occupied on rue de Varenne,” those around her told us. The armchairs, although too low for her, have not been changed.” The minister was never able to sit there. Nothing to disturb her. “We must not forget that these are only parentheses in our lives,” she explains to us. Catherine Vautrin knows something about this. When she learned, on June 9, “a few minutes before Emmanuel Macron spoke”, that the latter was going to dissolve the National Assembly, fatigue could be seen on her face. For three weeks, she has spent night and day defending the end-of-life text legalizing active assistance in dying, in committee, then in the hemicycle. “When I left the Bourbon palace two days before,” she tells us, “I was light years away from thinking that we would not get to the end of the debates. »

At the head of a sprawling ministry

Present that evening to comment on the results of the European elections on the set of one of the continuous news channels, a guest said to him between two interventions: “In terms of end of life. THANKS ! » Although contested, the minister nevertheless continues to defend – without overdoing it – this choice of the President of the Republic: “We are never wrong when we question the country”, she told Paris Match. Dispossessed, today, of the text on which she worked for many months, she admits to us, a bit bitterly, that “government life is like this. Geneviève Darrieussecq, the Minister of Health and Access to Care, is perfectly familiar with the bill. We worked together. And now I've moved on. » Catherine Vautrin has, in her portfolio, communities – until now shared with the Ministry of the Interior -, commerce, crafts, but also the sea, fishing, and especially transport. A sprawling ministry, a sort of “Beauvau of the left bank”.

Its priority today is to quickly launch a profound reform of the status of elected officials to improve the attractiveness of the mandate and thus secure commitment and encourage vocations with a view to municipal elections. “It’s a long-awaited project. We are going to start from Françoise Gatel's senatorial bill in order to improve the conditions for exercising the mandate, she reveals to us. There is an unacceptable increase in violence against local elected officials (2,600 were victims in 2023, according to the Center for Analysis and Combating Attacks on Elected Officials). You need to be firm from the first moment of bullying, because it often starts with verbal abuse, before it becomes physical. »

Reluctant to change the electoral code in large cities

With a view to 2026, she is reluctant to change the electoral code of the three large metropolises of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, although supported by deputies of the “common base” – a term she prefers to that of relative majority. “The reading of elected officials is not the same everywhere. Only those in the capital actually want to quickly change the existing system. » Having definitively closed the door to the return of the housing tax – abolished by Emmanuel Macron, at the start of his second five-year term -, the minister is nevertheless considering the return of local taxation. “We have to face things, at a time when public money is becoming scarce, these are revenues that we no longer have. We must involve citizens in the cost of public spending, while remaining vigilant about their purchasing power, she explains laconicly. This must be done in consultation. »

The minister is plugged into the mains. In a context where to reduce the deficit, the government is looking for savings, the minister tells us that she intends to quickly evaluate all the agencies for which she is responsible. “I don’t want any duplication in the missions carried out. » At the same time, she is making progress on the “Corsican files”. After a trip there at the end of October, she confirmed the government's wish to “present a constitutional text providing for the recognition of the island's autonomous status in the second half of next year and to organize a Congress , potentially, before the end of 2025.” “Is there a good atmosphere within the Barnier government? » we dare to ask him, at the end of our meeting. Catherine Vautrin thinks – the question is tricky – before answering us: “There are many ministers – forty-one, in total. It takes time. »

A Chiraquian

It must be said that since her first election in 1983, as municipal councilor of Reims, the Chiraquian has seen others: sitting, over the years, in the Reims majority, then in the opposition, becoming a member of the Marne (in 2002), then Secretary of State (in 2004), then Minister Delegate (in 2005) under Jacques Chirac before reaching the position of Vice-President of the National Assembly, under Nicolas Sarkozy (in 2008, seat which she will keep until 2017). She has seen everything, known everything. “I could have been the mother of the previous Prime Minister,” she jokes. And here I am, now, able to be the sister of his successor. » The only downside: not having succeeded in taking the reins of Reims. His hometown. In 2008, she was beaten by the socialist Adeline Hazan. But, the story is not over. And, many chapters remain to be written. “In life,” she philosophizes, “you should never exclude anything…”