Members of the government gathered around the traditional New Year's breakfast at the Ministry of the Interior before attending the first Council of Ministers.
Il “there is a path” to get out of political instability, said François Bayrou on Friday January 3 during the traditional government breakfast at Place Beauvau marking the new year, his entourage reported to AFP. “There is a path, it is even better defined than we think. The French do not want this period of instability to continue.”declared the Prime Minister, who then went on foot with his team to the Élysée for his first Council of Ministers and the first of the year.
“My responsibility is for this team to be united and courageous”he added. “If we are united, we will be able to remove a number of obstacles before us”. François Bayrou, who hopes to last longer in Matignon than his predecessor, who remained in office for only three months, is similarly deprived of a majority in the National Assembly, due to not having been able to expand his government beyond the center and the right.
A gap that he hopes to compensate for by the presence of political heavyweights, such as former prime ministers Élisabeth Borne (Education) and Manuel Valls (Overseas), and a few ministers who, according to a government source, “a story” with the left, such as Éric Lombard (Economy) or François Rebsamen (Territorial planning). Several of their colleagues were out on Friday morning on the radio and TV morning shows, to set the tone for this first meeting of the government team. With a message hammered out in unison: “We need a budget”.
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«Service minimum»
Because without a finance law since January 1, “France operates in minimum service”said on RTL Catherine Vautrin, in charge in particular of Labor and Health. “If we don’t have a budget, we won’t be able to take care of the residents (of) the neighborhoods”for her part underlined the new Minister of the City, Juliette Méadel, on TF1.
Doubt also hangs over the drop in the price of electricity (-14% on February 1) which “will depend on the adoption of the finance law”warned Marc Ferracci, Minister of Industry and Energy, on RMC. The situation therefore concerns “budgetary emergency”estimated Aurore Bergé (Gender Equality), calling on France Inter to “unity and stability”.
Emergency also for Mayotte, awaiting a bill promised at the start of the week by François Bayrou. The Prime Minister, who visited the archipelago with five ministers, announced a series of measures to restore “standing” this department, the poorest in France. But this text will not appear on the menu of this first Council of Ministers, as initially planned. It will be presented next week, even if this postponement should not have an impact on its examination by Parliament, which resumes its activities on January 13.
Grain of salt
The menu is therefore likely to be light at the table at the Élysée on Friday. A new government spokesperson, former Les Républicains senator Sophie Primas, will report on it. An exercise repatriated to the Élysée, at the request of François Bayrou, while his predecessor had chosen to relocate it to a building of the Prime Minister's services.
To prepare for this first meeting of the government team, and with his general policy declaration in mind before the Assembly on January 14, the Prime Minister had a long lunch on Thursday with President Emmanuel Macron. Way of calming tensions between the two heads of the executive, while the head of state hesitated in December to appoint the boss of the MoDem, the latter then threatening to break their historic alliance. Since then, the president has not held back from putting his two cents into the work of the government, during his wishes to the French. The new government “must be able to take a path of compromise in order to act”France must “continues to be attractive”, “work and innovate more”, “continues to create jobs” et “ensures its growth by maintaining its finances”he urged.
The mark of a new relationship “co-responsibility”according to the new tenant of Matignon, who started his lease with a historically low popularity rating, according to the Ifop-Journal Sunday barometer published on December 22.
