After several days of negotiations and delays, the composition of François Bayrou's government was announced on the evening of Monday, December 23, by the Secretary General of the Elysée, Alexis Kohler. The team of 35 members, including 18 women, includes four ministers of state. What are the differences between the different titles in a government team?
The ministers
A minister, or full minister, is at the head of a ministerial department, the contours of which are specified upon the appointment of each new government. As head of his administration, he is the hierarchical superior of civil servants in the ministerial perimeter, specifies the site vie-publique.fr.
Ministers participate in the Council of Ministers, which takes place every week under the authority of the President of the Republic.
Some members of the government are called “ministers of state”, an honorary title which distinguishes the political importance of a minister and allows him to appear at the top of the protocol order.
The delegated ministers
The delegated ministers exercise their functions either with the Prime Minister or with another minister.
Concretely, the delegate minister shares the same mission as a full minister but is placed under his supervision.
If, in the imagination, the delegate minister can be associated with a type of “deputy minister”, in reality he receives the same compensation as the other ministers (10,647 euros gross for ministers and delegate ministers) and also participates in each Council of Ministers.
Secretaries of State
Secretaries of State also exercise their functions under another minister. They can also be autonomous, at the head of a ministerial department.
However, state secretaries only attend the Council of Ministers when the agenda includes a question concerning their ministerial department.
Secretaries of State are also slightly less well paid than their minister and delegate minister counterparts: their monthly salary amounts to 10,115 euros gross.
Prime Minister François Bayrou and the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron receive 15,900 euros gross.
