Back from his official visit to Serbia, Emmanuel Macron is due to spend the weekend at his Versailles residence, La Lanterne, where he is expected to decide on the name of the future Prime Minister, which could be announced in the coming hours.
The essentials
- The new Prime Minister who will succeed Gabriel Attal could be appointed before the start of the new school year on Monday, more than 50 days after the legislative elections. Emmanuel Macron himself set the deadline and an announcement planned for the weekend, perhaps Sunday, is looming according to several media outlets. It should be accompanied by a speech from the head of state who promised to speak “in due time and in the right context”.
- Emmanuel Macron, who claims to be looking for “the best solution”, will refine his decision from his Versailles residence, La Lanterne, this weekend. He still seems determined to turn to a centre-left or centre-right personality, achieving the broadest consensus in order to avoid a motion of censure.
- The name of Bernard Cazeneuve, former Prime Minister of François Hollande, remains one of the most cited, but divides within the PS and does not have unanimous support in Emmanuel Macron’s entourage. But other names are mentioned. Karim Bouamrane, PS mayor of Saint-Ouen, has also been mentioned in recent days for Matignon. He said he was “capable” of becoming Prime Minister, even if he assures that he is not a candidate for the post.
10:00 – Gabriel Attal present for the return of Renaissance party activists
Resigning Prime Minister Gabriel Attal arrived mid-morning at the headquarters of the Renaissance party for the return of his party’s activists in Paris. Discreet since he gave the resignation of his government to Emmanuel Macron, the head of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly must go to the Seine-et-Marne federation, before a trip in the afternoon to the party structure in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
09:53 – Laurent Jacobelli accuses Macron of having “shaken the political landscape”
Speaking to France Info, the spokesperson for the National Rally Laurent Jacobelli accused Emmanuel Macron this Saturday of having “shaken the political landscape”, believing that “the crux of the problem has a name: Emmanuel Macron”. While the head of state had dissolved the National Assembly on the evening of the European election results, the deputy of the party with the flame castigated the position of the president whom he accuses of having wanted to “divide” the country to keep power by refusing “that a new majority, that an alternation arrives with the National Rally.
09:40 – The Insoumis will vote a motion of censure against Cazeneuve
Still determined to have their candidate Lucie Castets nominated, the leader of the Insoumis, Mathilde Panot, announced this Friday on France Info that her group will oppose any government of Bernard Cazeneuve who will be automatically censored, and more generally to “any government which would not be led by Lucie Castets”.
09:30 – Nicolas Sarkozy calls for the appointment of a right-wing Prime Minister
Nicolas Sarkozy supports a right-wing candidacy for Matignon. The former President of the Republic called in an interview with Figaro The Republicans to “work” so that the future Prime Minister comes from the ranks of the right. “The gravity of the situation today requires a change of strategy and assuming the responsibility of governing,” he explained, while regretting the position of his camp which “imposes a minimum program on the president” while affirming “to want to remain outside the government team.” As for the hypothesis of Bernard Cazeneuve in the post, the former tenant of the Élysée judged that the latter “is not the solution” given his inadequacy “with the center of gravity of French politics,” but affirmed that Xavier Bertrand was “a good choice.”
09:20 – Towards a Bernard Cazeneuve hypothesis?
His name has been regularly mentioned for several weeks for a return to Matignon. Former Prime Minister of François Hollande, will Bernard Cazeneuve replace Gabriel Attal as head of government? While Emmanuel Macron is looking for a center-left or center-right personality who can achieve consensus, the name of the former socialist is back in the spotlight. However, his name still divides within the Socialist Party, as well as in the presidential camp.
09:10 – Decisive weekend for Emmanuel Macron
Several weeks after the legislative elections won by the left-wing alliance and a series of consultations with party presidents and several political figures in recent days, Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce his future Prime Minister to replace Gabriel Attal.
08/30/24 – 11:50 p.m. – 51% of French people in favor of Emmanuel Macron’s resignation
According to an Ipsos poll, more than one in two French people (51%) say they are in favor of Emmanuel Macron’s resignation, and 67% of those surveyed believe that the dissolution has had negative consequences for France. 7 out of 10 French people say they do not trust the chamber elected during the last legislative elections.
08/30/24 – 11:05 p.m. – “I am not a candidate for the post of Prime Minister,” assures Karim Bouamrane
“My personal question is really secondary. I am not a candidate for the post of Prime Minister and even if that had been the case, we do not send a CV to the President of the Republic,” assured BFMTV the socialist mayor of Saint-Ouen, who wants a “republican bloc” in order to find a “compromise”.
08/30/24 – 10:15 p.m. – “The Socialist Party must play its role as leader,” defends Karim Bouamrane, PS mayor of Saint-Ouen
“What interests me is how we manage to find the paths of hope,” defends the PS mayor of Saint-Ouen on BFMTV. If he were approached by Emmanuel Macron to be appointed Prime Minister, “there will be a debate to ensure that this candidacy is supported by the New Popular Front (…) the socialist party must have its role as leader,” asserts Karim Bouamrane.
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How soon will the new government be appointed?
After the “political truce” respected during the Olympic Games, the President of the Republic had set the course of mid-August for the appointment of a new Prime Minister and then the future government. But more than a month and a half after the legislative elections and while the government of Gabriel Attal resigned on July 16, the date of the appointment of the Prime Minister has still not been set. It is however expected in the week of August 26, after Emmanuel Macron’s consultations with the various political forces, or “from Tuesday” August 27 as indicated by the Elysée. But in the absence of an agreement, new discussions are organized, before the long-awaited announcement. Emmanuel Macron has nevertheless informed interlocutors that he would like to appoint a Prime Minister before September 2.
Given the composition of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic has set himself the task of finding a Prime Minister capable of gathering “the broadest and most stable majority possible”, but achieving an absolute majority of 289 deputies is proving impossible, unless there is a surprise coalition. The same goes for the ministers that the latter will then have to propose. Otherwise, the new government as a whole would be exposed to a motion of censure which, if voted for by more than half of the elected representatives, would lead to the overthrow of the ministerial team. It would therefore be necessary to start all over again.
The problem is that Emmanuel Macron will have to accommodate all sensitivities, from the left of course, from the center naturally, but also from the right. If the NFP came out on top, the head of state has already ruled out governing with LFI deputies. But Jean-Luc Mélenchon paved the way for a left-wing government without LFI ministers and trapped Emmanuel Macron at his own game. The fact remains that the opposition from the presidential camp, the right and the far right are still speaking out against the NFP program, and not just the LFI elected officials. Finding personalities who suit the ecologists, socialists, communists, Macronists and republicans is not an easy task. Not to mention the programmatic points on which everyone will have to agree.
What could be the profile of the future Prime Minister?
Emmanuel Macron took advantage of a summer break from Fort Brégançon to give new clues about the profile of the new Prime Minister. Clear elements are now emerging for the person who will take over from Gabriel Attal. The head of government will have to be “a man or woman, consensual, who pleases both the left and the right”, we can read in the columns of Le Monde. According to the Elysée, this personality will also have to give off “a scent of cohabitation”. This is an important clue about the composition of the new government and its political color. Especially after Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to see the NFP candidate, Lucie Castets, at Matignon.
Xavier Bertrand is one of the main names circulating for Matignon. The LR president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand, himself, is even supported by several figures from the center and the right. “He is a great republican among the Republicans and a great regional president” declared on this subject Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, resigning Secretary of State for the City, on July 30th. The resigning Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin spoke of him “a politician with very great competence”, he could “greatly serve France”, a day earlier. Concerning the main person concerned, there is no direct contact with the President of the Republic. Bertrand and Macron exchange, certainly, but through “emissaries” according to information from Le Parisien.
The President of the Republic is consulting at least on a second name for the post of Prime Minister, it is Bernard Cazeneuve. The former tenant of Matignon under François Hollande remains however much less publicized than Xavier Bertrand, and much more discreet about his new political aspirations. However, according to information from Le Parisien, the latter recently spoke with the head of state “whom he had already seen discreetly at the Elysée in the spring (well before the dissolution). A profile that could quite satisfy the consensual dimension sought by Emmanuel Macron to replace Gabriel Attal.
On Sunday, August 4, the resigning Minister for Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, also mentioned three names from the Republicans to fill the post of Prime Minister in place of Gabriel Attal. Unsurprisingly, Xavier Bertrand, the President of the Hauts-de-France region. Then Michel Barnier, a former minister we talked about in this article on July 31 as part of a possible technical Prime Minister. Finally, the name of Gérard Larcher, current President of the Senate, was also mentioned by Aurore Bergé to join Matignon. The three “have solid experience in government, Parliament, and compromise,” believes the Macronist minister, from the right. Jean-Louis Borloo is also mentioned.
