Nicolas Pernot chosen by François Bayrou as right-hand man at Matignon

POLITICS – There is the government team to compose but also the team gathered around the Prime Minister. On the first point, negotiations are underway around François Bayrou who is receiving party leaders and parliamentary groups from this Monday, December 16. On the second, the Prime Minister began to expand his cabinet by appointing senior official Nicolas Pernot at its head reports Le Figaroinformation confirmed by Matignon.

Nicolas Pernot, 62, was until now general director of services for the Grand Est region and is presented as a specialist in local authorities. The man knows the new head of government well: he held the same position between 1995 and 1997, in the cabinet of François Bayrou, then Minister of National Education. His deputy will be Pierre-Emmanuel Portheret, who also knows the head of MoDem well, whom he assisted during his short-lived stint at Justice.

Keyword: “reconciliation”

Near the FigaroNicolas Pernot said he wanted “ reconciling the energy of communities and the ambition of the State “. A real challenge, when the government's first mission will be to vote on the 2025 budget, taking into account a record deficit. Among the savings options, the previous government team intended to cut back part of the credits granted to communities. A decision which caused a wave of anger among local elected officials, to the point that Michel Barnier said he was ready to review his copy. However, he was never able to provide details, having been censored in the process.

With the 2025 finance bill suspended, François Bayrou's government will have the difficult task of proposing a new one, either by starting from scratch, or by drawing inspiration or following the paths of the old one.

During the transfer of power with his predecessor, the president of MoDem assured that he understood the scale of the task. “I took reckless risks in my political life to raise the question of debt and deficits during the essential electoral deadlines. (…)I believe that this question of debt poses a moral question,” declared the new tenant of Matignon. Evoking « a Himalaya » budgetary and political difficulties, François Bayrou expressed his determination to “find a new path (…) marked by the desire for reconciliation”. The key word of his lease in Matignon?

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