Michel Barnier replaced by a favorite of the First Lady?

This Wednesday, December 4, the National Assembly will decide on the motion of censure or not of the government of Michel Barnier. If the vote is positive, the Prime Minister could be replaced by a favorite of Brigitte Macron.

This Monday, December 2, after having resorted to 49.3 on the Social Security financing bill by Michel Barnier, the New Popular Front and the National Rally each filed a motion of censure against him. This Wednesday, December 4, from 4 p.m., the two motions will be debated in the National Assembly and the government could well be overthrown before the end of the day. While the 73-year-old politician's position is under threat, several names to replace him are already circulating.

In particular that of Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces. As reported by Julien Nény, political journalist on France Inter, the 38-year-old politician was recently surprised during a meeting at the Élysée by train “to draw on a sheet of paper the future composition of a government”. Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, also “spoke publicly on Monday about a possible Lecornu government”. Another string to his bow, the former senator is “very much pushed by Brigitte Macron”, according to a source close to Emmanuel Macron.

Sébastien Lecornu: zoom on his special relationship with Brigitte Macron

If Brigitte Macron gets along well with Gabriel Attal, within the government, she has also had a nice friendly relationship for several years with Sébastien Lecornu. In the month of February, L’Opinion also reveals in his columns that Emmanuel Macron's wife appreciates the humor of the Minister of the Armed Forces. When they are both out and about, good humor would be heard and they would even have a habit of having dinner together every six months.

The First Lady and the 38-year-old politician are also close to Carla Bruni. The three of them meet regularly either in the Var, or at Fort Brégançon, the second home of the presidents, or at Cap Nègre, the home of Giulia Sarkozy's parents. “Brigitte Macron is comfortable with him because they belong to the same provincial right, not necessarily conservative”, confides a source to the daily newspaper. However, Sébastien Lecornu is not the only name to be mentioned to replace Michel Barnier. Indeed, François Bayrou and Bernard Cazeneuve also seem to be in the race for Matignon.