François Bayrou's government is slow to be announced for these three reasons

POLITICS – Things continue to get stuck. While François Bayrou promised to present his government before Christmas and even thought of announcing it before the end of the weekend, this Sunday, December 22 ended with a cold shower from the Élysée shortly before 8 p.m.: the composition of the The Prime Minister's team will not be done before Monday.

The timing of this weekend seemed perfect, however, just before the end-of-year celebrations and in the wake of Emmanuel Macron's return to Paris after his trip to Mayotte, Djibouti and Ethiopia. But despite several calls and meetings between the president and the head of government during the day, blocking points remain. Here are the ones.

• La figure de Xavier Bertrand

Xavier Bertrand is expected to take over from Didier Migaud (PS) at Justice. Problem is, President LR of the Hauts-de-France region, whose name has often been mentioned to join the successive governments of his last months, has never obtained his portfolio due to firm opposition from the National Rally.

The vice-president of the RN Sébastien Chenu also said on BFMTV this Sunday: “If Xavier Bertrand is in any ministry, it will be an arm of honor that will be given to us. » However, he stressed that this would not be enough to censor the government. Marine Le Pen's entourage, however, went further a little later in the day, assuring the same media that “pressure for censorship will be difficult to contain” if Xavier Bertrand got his morocco.

Obviously, the prospect of seeing him recover Justice, especially since Marine Le Pen will be sentenced in March in the affair of the false RN parliamentary assistants, raises the tension. François Bayrou is therefore in an inextricable situation: either he ignores the threats of the National Rally but takes the risk of censorship, or he gives in and finds himself at the head of a government subject to the RN… like Michel Barnier.

• The Darmanin-Barrot battle

Another point of divergence concerns the prestigious Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While Jean-Noël Barrot wants to keep his post at the Quai d'Orsay, it is the former Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin who would like to take the head of French diplomacy. If the first has the favors of the Prime Minister – they both come from MoDem -, the second has the ear of Emmanuel Macron.

• Who is responsible for the economy?

This is surely the most strategic position at the moment in view of the battles over the budget to come after the adoption of the “special law”: who will hold the boat at Bercy? The name of Laurent Wauquiez was once again in the balance, he who three months earlier had refused to join Michel Barnier's government.

This time again, the leader of the LR deputies accepted that his party would enter the Bayrou government, but announced on Saturday evening that he had refused a position. “The only possible configuration for me was (the Ministry of Finance) with a clear roadmap, in particular no tax increase. There is no such roadmap. He (François Bayrou) offered me something else, I declined,” he explained.

There is not much time left for François Bayrou to complete his negotiations and formalize the composition of his team within the promised time. Monday does not seem to be the most opportune time when a day of mourning has been announced for Mayotte. The Parisian still evokes a possible announcement from the government at the end of the day. If the Prime Minister wants to meet his deadlines, Tuesday, December 24 will remain Christmas Eve, even if many French people will already have their feet under the table.

Also see on HuffPost :