the essential
The formation of the new government is in the last line. While a list of potential ministers has been circulating since Tuesday evening, Prime Minister François Bayrou, who spoke with the head of state, will once again bring together the parties and the heads of parliamentary groups, excluding RN and LFI.
Emmanuel Macron was to receive his Prime Minister François Bayrou again yesterday afternoon at the Elysée to move forward on the composition of the government, before leaving Paris until Sunday to go to Brussels, Mayotte, Djibouti and Ethiopia, a- we learned from those around the President.
This source was not able to say if this new meeting, after the two talks on Tuesday, should lead to the government’s announcement before the departure of the head of state, or if it was a question of ‘a milestone. “It’s progressing,” said someone close to Emmanuel Macron after Tuesday’s meetings.
In the morning, François Bayrou continued his consultations with political forces for the third consecutive day. The Prime Minister spoke with Nathalie Delattre, president of the Radical Party and Laurent Hénart, then with Éric Ciotti, president of the Union of Rights for the Republic group in the National Assembly.
He continued with two presidents of parliamentary groups in the Senate: the Macronist François Patriat (Rally of Democrats, Progressives and Independents) and Maryse Carrère, president of the group of the European Democratic and Social Rally (RDSE).
Bruno Retailleau would like to stay
The “start-up architecture” of the government, according to the expression of Marc Fesneau, close to Mr. Bayrou and boss of the MoDem deputies in the Assembly, thus continued to be consolidated. Yesterday morning, the resigning Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau estimated that the conditions “are not met for the moment” for LR to enter the government.
“I will only be able to stay in government if I am able to pursue the policy that the majority of French people want, that is to say, to restore authority, firmness, public order, both in the streets only at our borders”, he however affirmed on BFMTV-RMC about his personal case, highlighting a divergent approach from that of Laurent Wauquiez, the leader of the LR deputies.
A list of names and a letter from the Prime Minister
In any case, the resigning minister, on the front line with the crisis in Mayotte, appeared on Tuesday evening on a list of names from the Bayrou government which was circulating in the political and media circles. Matignon took care yesterday to deny having transmitted any list to Emmanuel Macron.
On the one circulating in any case, no doubt as trial balloons, several names appear: LR Catherine Vautrin at National Education, MoDem Jean-Noël Barrot at Justice, former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne at Armed Forces, the former Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin for Foreign Affairs, the Renaissance MP Violette Spillebout for Sports, the Macronist Gersois Jean-René Cazeneuve for the Budget, the LR president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis Martine Vassal for Transport.
Included in this list are two “left” outlets: the former PS mayor of Dijon and former minister of François Hollande, François Rebsamen and the PS president of the Burgundy-Franche-Comté regional council Marie-Guite Dufay. PS First Secretary Olivier Faure recently warned that any PS member who agreed to be a minister in a Bayrou government would be excluded from the party.
Yesterday at the end of the day, in a letter, François Bayrou proposed to bring together once again, this Thursday at 2 p.m. in Matignon, the presidents of the parties and political groups (excluding RN and LFI), the president of the Assembly and the president of the Senate to “enlighten and hear them on the directions that we will have to follow” in the future government.
