Another surprise? The name of Thierry Beaudet, president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) emerged on Monday, September 2 as a potential successor to Gabriel Attal as Prime Minister. But “it’s not a done deal,” a close friend of Emmanuel Macron told BFMTV.
More than a week after the start of consultations with political forces that have been dragging on, negotiations with this unknown to the general public, with a rather left-wing leaning, seem to be dragging on.
“Catherine Vautrin had also accepted,” underlines a person familiar with the Élysée Palace, implying that for Matignon, a possible agreement in principle does not mean an appointment.
An unknown to the general public, inexperienced in politics
According to information from BFMTV, discussions between Thierry Beaudet and Emmanuel Macron have been “stuck” since Monday afternoon. The fault potentially lies with the future government system, but especially with the team that would be formed at Matignon around the head of the Cese.
The Élysée wanted to add a chief of staff to him, Bertrand Gaume, prefect of Essonne since 2022 and appointed prefect of the Hauts-de-France region in February 2024. According to information from the BFMTV political service, Bertrand Gaume refused the position.
The profile of Thierry Beaudet, inexperienced in politics, also raises questions. Members of the presidential camp are worried about his ability to manage such a fractured National Assembly. And members of the opposition fear that a novice will be dominated by Emmanuel Macron, to the point of being reduced to a simple role of collaborator. Such a scenario could also frustrate after the results of the last legislative elections, highlighting a desire for alternation expressed by the French in the ballot boxes on Sunday, July 7.
Could the man who is described as a great admirer of François Mitterrand and with universalist and secular left-wing convictions embody the alternation? The candidate of the New Popular Front Lucie Castets seemed this Monday for the first time to make an overture on a name other than her own.
“The New Popular Front supports a change in policy, and therefore, it will support a candidate, a person who is able to change policy (…) in this country,” she declared, not opposing a categorical “no” to Thierry Beaudet.
Opposed to the immigration law
In recent months, the president of the Cese has repeatedly been critical of Emmanuel Macron’s actions. In 2023, after Elisabeth Borne’s 49.3 to force through the pension reform, Thierry Beaudet deplored the “loss of the culture of compromise” and called for a “major democratic update to be carried out”.
In a half-hearted manner, he seemed to criticize the President of the Republic’s record in the columns of Ouest-France: “The Economist has established a ranking of democracies in the world. Around twenty countries appear in the most elaborate category, which the newspaper describes as ‘complete democracies’. France is not included.”
At the beginning of 2024, Thierry Beaudet marched in the streets against the immigration law, deploring the “chaotic path” of this text voted on with the votes of the National Rally.
The day after the dissolution of the National Assembly, Thierry Beaudet explained that he “did not understand” Emmanuel Macron’s decision. Unlike many leaders in the presidential camp, the head of the Cese refused to “send back to back” the New Popular Front and the National Rally, showing himself to be vigorously opposed to Jordan Bardella’s party.
“The extreme right is on the verge of power. Historically, it has fought against parliamentary democracy, maintained racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, hatred of others, hunted down countervailing powers, fundamental rights and the rule of law,” he declared in La Tribune on Tuesday, June 26.
Nuanced on Emmanuel Macron’s record
Although he has not always been aligned with Emmanuel Macron’s positions, Thierry Beaudet remains nuanced about the record of the tenant of the Élysée. “I will not conduct a ‘democratic trial’ of Emmanuel Macron for one reason in particular. Who showed sensitivity to the need to revitalize deliberative, participatory democracy by creating the Citizens’ Conventions? Who launched the Great Debate or brought together the intermediary bodies around the National Councils for Refoundation (CNR)? His predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy or François Hollande? No. The so-called ‘Jupiterian President'”, he declared in La Tribune.
The two men met in 2018 at the Mutualité Congress, of which Thierry Beaudet was the president. And they did not always get along well, especially when Emmanuel Macron criticized mutual insurance companies for being too expensive.
“Thierry didn’t give up,” says a close friend of the Cese president. “In the end, Macron gave him a pat on the back with a wink and they didn’t part on bad terms.”
From there to being appointed Prime Minister? “It could be a good surprise”, François Hommeril, president of the CFE-CGC, wants to believe to the Agence France Presse, noting that he “knows from experience that society is complex”. On the employers’ side, François Asselin, of the CPME, speaks of “someone consensual” coming from “a centre-left culture”.
Bernard Cazeneuve and Xavier Bertrand, more political profiles, are still in the race for Matignon. According to one of his close associates, Emmanuel Macron is taking his time to “be sure that it will be a lasting government”. “With him, we still don’t know what to expect. But at least now, we know how to wait.”
- BFMTV.com
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