Consultations continued on Monday, August 2 at the Elysée Palace with the aim of the President of the Republic making his choice on the profile of the future Prime Minister. While various names have been mentioned in the press since Emmanuel Macron ruled out any option supported by the New Popular Front, one personality seems to be a serious hypothesis: Thierry Beaudet, current president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, could well be in the running according to information from l’Opinion. A profile from civil society considered less political than previous proposals. And which would open the way, according to commentators, to a “technical government”. What does that mean in concrete terms?
From a strictly legal point of view, not much. Two constitutional experts confirm that CheckNews that this notion has no “legal consistency”. In political science, on the other hand, we speak of a “technical government” to describe a government made up of “persons who are not linked to a political party”, explains to CheckNews Damien Bol, researcher and teacher at Cevipof, specialist in political behavior. “These people are sent to the government because of their expertise. In theory, they are neutral, although it is difficult to be politically neutral as a citizen. Let’s say, in any case, that they are not affiliated with any party.” In this regard, although Thierry Beaudet does not openly claim to belong to any party, his position on the immigration law, for example, is known, since at the beginning of January he declared on X that he had demonstrated against it.
Damien Bol specifies that in the event of the appointment of a non-partisan Prime Minister, then the most realistic hypothesis is that the entire government will be technical, composed of personalities not affiliated to a party: “Putting a political minister in such a configuration would not make much sense, because he would be constrained from all sides,” he specifies. The opposite is more common: we frequently find ministers from civil society in partisan governments.
“Politically neutral”
In Northern Europe, the hypothesis of a technical government has a taste of something new. In France, such a situation dates back to 1877, after a dissolution decided by President MacMahon in the context of a serious political crisis. The practice of a technical government is more common in Southern Europe. “In 2008, during the economic crisis, several countries resorted to technical government to implement austerity measures, explains Damien Bol. Then we saw this system return in Italy during the Covid crisis, with the government of Mario Draghi. Every time, we resort to this practice when we have difficulty finding a coalition or an absolute majority.”
A technical government is a government in its own right: “He has more powers than a routine government [en place actuellement, ndlr] whose main goal is not to leave the country abandoned.” The political scientist adds: “The technical government can submit laws and carry out public policies, even if it does not benefit from the symbolic legitimacy that a victory in an election would have given it. It remains subject to the democratic game because the government will not be able to do anything without Parliament, which votes on proposed laws and constitutes a safeguard.”
But in the context of a government “politically neutral”, who will give color and direction to the bills? In other words: in this hypothesis, would Emmanuel Macron continue to breathe his own political vision? Since comparisons are rare, difficult, at present, to know the room for maneuver of the Prime Minister at the head of a technical government in a semi-presidential regime. Damien Bol: “Technically, the prime minister would not come from the presidential party, so he could retain a certain freedom from the president. It is not excluded that he could take a certain independence. At the same time, he does not benefit from the democratic legitimacy, although weakened, of the president. In any case, this should be very interesting to observe.” For a large part of the left, like François Ruffin, there is no doubt: a technical government would amount to “continue the same policy pursued for forty years.”
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