Resigned Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans, Sébastien Lecornu emerges as a potential candidate for the post of Prime Minister, the day after the vote on the motion of censure in the National Assembly.
After the adoption of the motion of censure, pushing Michel Barnier and his government to resign, France finds itself in an unprecedented situation. Emmanuel Macron must now quickly appoint a new Prime Minister and, among the few candidates for the head of Matignon, Sébastien Lecornu stands out as a possible choice.
One of the rare ministers retained following the appointment of Michel Barnier, Sébastien Lecornu has held the position of Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs since 2022.
Formerly of the Republicans, recognized for his quality work, he was also Minister of Overseas for two years, during Emmanuel Macron's first term.
youngest parliamentary assistant in 2005
Rallying to Macronie and excluded from the LR in 2017, Sébastien Lecornu first became known for having accompanied Emmanuel Macron during the organization of the Great National Debate, organized to end the “yellow vest” crisis. At the time, he was Minister responsible for Local Authorities.
Born on June 11, 1986 in Eaubonne (Val-d'Oise), the minister broke several records for precocity. He was the youngest parliamentary assistant in the National Assembly in 2005, the youngest advisor in a ministerial cabinet – that of Bruno Le Maire in European Affairs in 2008 – and the youngest president of a department, that of the Eure, in 2015.
And it was on the right that, while still a high school student, he got involved, in his town of Vernon (Eure), where he would be elected mayor in 2014. “I have always had an interest in public affairs,” he explained. upon his entry into government. “I like order. For me, the left represents disorder. And despite my working-class origins, I never believed in the social excuse. When you work, you always succeed,” he said in an interview with Libération.
Discreet ascent
Since 2017 and the advent of macronie, this elected official from Eure, close to Bruno Le Maire and very close to Gérald Darmanin, has continued his discreet rise. Secretary of State to the Minister of Ecological Transition, under Nicolas Hulot, in June 2017, he took the stripe of Minister responsible for Territorial Communities in October 2018, under the leadership of Jacqueline Gourault, thanks to the shift in 'Emmanuel Macron towards the local and the territories.
“He loves the French Overseas Territories, he is one of the best connoisseurs of the electoral map, of political life, of the political history of overseas territories,” one of his friends confided when he had taken on the Overseas file. Sébastien Lecornu especially scored points by leading the numerous meetings at the beginning of 2019 between the head of state and local elected officials as part of the Great Debate to find a solution to the “yellow vest” crisis.
Excluded from Republicans
The first was also held on his Normandy lands, in Grand Bourgtheroulde, before a presidential tour of France. Volunteer, adept at “head-on confrontation” with his detractors, he joined LREM in 2017 after his exclusion from the Republicans for having accepted a government position.
Far from the traditional training of political leaders, Sébastien Lecornu, a public law graduate from Panthéon-Assas University, is also a reserve officer in the gendarmerie. He even commanded the platoon in Eure to which Emmanuel Macron's former security guard, Alexandre Benalla, belonged.
