They accepted the mission, strategic, thankless, and perhaps impossible in the face of the threat of censorship. That of giving meaning and coherence to the government's action in an unprecedented situation of accumulation of a relative majority in the National Assembly and a government coalition.
Responsible for relations with Parliament, Nathalie Delattre, 55, is still seated to the left of Michel Barnier, on the ministerial bench in Parliament. Government spokesperson, Maud Bregeon, 33, presents the report of the council of ministers every week, before responding to the press. Responsible for government cohesion, Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée, 61, ensures, in the shadows of her office, good harmony between right-wing and Macronist allies.
On the day of his general policy declaration, October 1, these three delegated ministers accompanied Michel Barnier, on foot through the streets leading him from Matignon to the Palais-Bourbon. On Monday, they are, one-on-one or together, one of the very first meetings on her calendar. Because their portfolios are attached to the Prime Minister, a sign that all channels of dialogue and communication irrigate Matignon.
“Treasures of diplomacy”
“I am ready to be on commando operation”proclaimed Nathalie Delattre when she took office at the end of September, promising to deploy “treasures of diplomacy”. Since then, this former senator from Gironde, interim president of the Radical Party, has held numerous interviews with the bosses of the groups and members of the parliamentary committees, alone or with Michel Barnier. She speaks when he, “silent”, “listens a lot”according to participants.
Nathalie Delattre, Minister for Relations with Parliament, in October. / Joel Saget / AFP
“She is clever. She has a sense of otherness, conviviality, has pep and a form of freedom of speech », greets a Macronist senator. However, the deputies, who perceive it as “the minister of relations with the Senate”appear recalcitrant. The budgetary discussions came to an end, after bringing to light the differences in the “common base”, which brings together the Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons and Les Républicains parties supporting Michel Barnier.
The allies cannot find a way to talk and coordinate with each other. A deputy close to the Prime Minister even fears “enter into a logic of victory by group and not by base, which risks being accentuated by niches”these agendas reserved for each of the parliamentary groups.
“Minister you team building”
The government is also trying to find this new culture of compromise. He did not escape the false notes. Ministers of the Interior and Justice on the execution of prison sentences, or those of ecological transition and public accounts on the price of gas. Putting the binder together is the work of Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée, loyal to the Prime Minister, for whom she was campaign director in 2021, during the LR primary for the presidential election.
Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée, Minister Delegate responsible for government coordination, in September. / Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas/AFP
“What is it for?” »however, question parliamentarians and members of the government, doubtful about the influence of “the minister of team building”as one MP ironically calls it. According to a decree specifying her responsibilities, on November 7, the former senator of Paris and advisor to Jacques Chirac at the Élysée “ensures to promote, in conjunction with the ministers concerned, the coherence of all the actions carried out by the government”, “follows up” of their roadmaps and “coordinates the preparation of projects identified as priorities” by Matignon. A role which usually falls more to the chief of staff of the Prime Minister.
It is Maud Bregeon, one of the media figures of the presidential party, who ultimately falls to the task “perilous” – she planned when she was appointed – to defend the government's action, without committing dissonance. Behind the scenes of the ministry said to « the words »this former EDF engineer, nuclear specialist, and ex-MP for Hauts-de-Seine, close to Gérald Darmanin, strives to create a dialogue between elected officials of all shades of the “common base”. “Dinners, lunches, breakfasts, informal meetings, this is the only methodadvocates a parliamentarian. If we have three years, we will get there. »
