After the surprise of Thierry Beaudet, president of the CESE, whose name was pulled out of the presidential hat for the post of Prime Minister on Monday, negotiations resumed on Tuesday at the Élysée and the Cazeneuve and Bertrand hypotheses are back on the table.
Not very keen on morality in politics, Cardinal Mazarin, Richelieu’s successor, advised the powerful in the conclusion of his famous Breviary of Politicians (1684) to keep in mind five precepts: “pretend, dissimulate, trust no one, speak well of everyone, plan before acting”. This recipe had allowed him to access the highest functions and then to retain power during two reigns (Louis XIII and Louis XIV), until his death.
Of these principles, the head of state seems to have retained only the first half. For ten days that Emmanuel Macron has been multiplying interviews at the Élysée, it is indeed a sham of consultations that we are left with the taste in our mouths. A democratic simulation that would have only one objective: to conceal the fact that the head of state only wants one thing, to preserve his work and his power.
Legendre’s Off: What if Macron kept control? – 03/09
In any case, this is the message that the appointment of a Thierry Beaudet to Matignon would have sent. The president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council is certainly a man of dialogue, but without any political experience or troops to defend him, who would have been eaten alive in the great swamp of politics after having been scalded in the cauldron of the Assembly.
But then, after spinning all day, the Beaudet star suddenly faded in the late afternoon. In the evening, the option seemed to be ruled out.
The worrying slippage of the public deficit
Is this a return to square one? Probably. The only certainty about the next Prime Minister is that he will arrive at the head of a state that is almost bankrupt, as evidenced by the budget documents sent Monday evening to the parliamentarians of the finance committees by Bruno Le Maire and Thomas Cazenave. The state of the budget is extremely worrying. The deficit is slipping and could exceed 6% next year.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking and France still has neither a Prime Minister nor a budget that matches the challenges. “Plan before you act,” Mazarin advised. Emmanuel Macron should perhaps have reread his breviary before dissolving the National Assembly.
