The composition of François Bayrou's government was announced this Monday, December 23, 2024. It includes Marnaise Catherine Vautrin, now in charge of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families.
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Catherine Vautrin therefore retains her place in government. La Marnaise was appointed this Monday, December 23, 2024 Minister of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families within the government of François Bayrou. The entire composition of the government can be discovered on the franceinfo website.
Catherine Vautrin was a member of the last two executives: between January and September 2024, already as Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity in the Attal government and since September in the Barnier government as Minister of the Minister of Partnership with the Territories and Decentralization.
Catherine Vautrin, 64, has more than forty years of politics behind her. It was in 1983 that she held her first elected office, that of municipal councilor of Reims. Since then, she has notably been president of Reims Métropole then Grand Reims, deputy for Marne, vice-president of the National Assembly, and member of several governments, as secretary of state or minister.
Catherine Vautrin was a long-time member of the Les Républicains party (or the RPR and the UMP before him). She was treasurer of the party from 2012. A position which earned her in 2014 an indictment for “breach of trust” in the affair of the penalties owed by Nicolas Sarkozy, but paid by the party in his place following the rejection of the candidate's campaign accounts. She will benefit from a dismissal of the case a year later.
In 2022, she supports Emmanuel Macron during the presidential campaign. Reappointed as head of the country, the President of the Republic offers him the post of Prime Minister. A request that surprises the elected official from Marne. “I fell out of my chair. I was more than touched. It’s beyond you,” tells the main interested party on BFMTV, in the program Ligne Rouge broadcast in June 2023.
While the presidential choice is rumored, there are many outcries within the presidential majority. Some recall the past positions of Catherine Vautrin, her vote in the Assembly against the law against marriage for all in 2013.
“Indeed, I voted against marriage for all. I went to a demonstration, like many of my colleagues at the time, some of whom are government ministers today”underlined Catherine Vautrin in the show Sens politique in November 2023 on France Culture. “When you want to kill your dog, you say it has rabies. Those who wanted a left-wing Prime Minister – because I think that was really an element – used what they could use.”
While Catherine Vautrin has started to think about the composition of her government, Emmanuel Macron is giving up. He finally named Élisabeth Borne. A few months later, Catherine Vautrin will be appointed president of Anru, the National Agency for Urban Renewal.
Twenty years after her first entry into government, as Secretary of State under Raffarin, she finally returned to the table of the Council of Ministers in 2024. Not as Prime Minister but at the head of a large Ministry of Labor, Health and Solidarity. While criticism of her positions around equal marriage resurfaces, she is defended by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. “She is a woman of openness and I am happy and proud that she is part of my government”he said to the press.
With her XXL ministry, she has to deal with numerous issues: the hospital situation, unemployment insurance and even end of life. His ministerial functions made him leave the presidency of Grand Reims, taken over by the Horizons mayor of Reims Arnaud Robinet.
On September 5, 2024, during the transfer of power between Gabriel Attal and Michel Barnier, she was the first to warmly greet the new tenant of the Matignon hotel. On September 21, she was appointed Minister of Territorial Partnership and Decentralization, in the third formal rank of the government, behind the Prime Minister and that of Justice.
Catherine Vautrin and Michel Barnier, in the courtyard of Matignon, during the transfer of power between Attal and Barnier, September 5, 2024.
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© STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / POOL / MAXPPP
Catherine Vautrin therefore remains in the government, now with responsibilities very close to those she had in the Attal government. At the head of the Ministry of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families, she will have many files to deal with. We can for example think of that of the end of life, the examination of which before Parliament had been stopped by the dissolution of the National Assembly. The next council of ministers is scheduled for January 3, 2025, after the holiday period.
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