On a trip to Chartres, while the government must be appointed before Sunday, the head of state assured that Prime Minister Michel Barnier had “full freedom” to perfect his choices. He also called on the parties “to help” the occupant of Matignon in this task.
Michel Barnier still intends to present the composition of his government “before Sunday”, after “final adjustments” while certain names of potential ministers have caused concern in the presidential camp.
On a trip to Chartres as part of the European Heritage Days, Emmanuel Macron called on his supporters and allies to “help” the Prime Minister form his government, after MoDem MPs expressed hesitation about joining a right-wing team.
“I will appoint on his proposals”
“It is important that all political groups, with commitment and a sense of responsibility, help (Michel Barnier) to form a government,” declared the President of the Republic. “He has complete freedom, it is his government,” he also said, referring to the choices that were going to be made. “I will appoint on his proposals.”
The government will not be announced on Friday and Matignon was now hoping for a presentation on Saturday, due to “final adjustments” to its composition.
The presence on the provisional list of ministers with very right-wing leanings, such as Bruno Retailleau at the Interior Ministry or, at the Family Ministry, LR senator Laurence Garnier, who opposed same-sex marriage or the constitutionalisation of abortion, has caused a stir among the Macronists.
Casting de 38 ministres
After having brought together on Thursday the heads of the different parties that could enter the government, the Prime Minister submitted on Thursday evening a list of 38 ministers to the President of the Republic.
Matignon then announced that the government would be presented “before Sunday” while awaiting the green light from the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP) for the appointment of future ministers.
The new team should include 16 full ministers, including ten from the presidential camp (Ensemble pour la République, Horizons, MoDem) and three Republicans (LR).
MoDem’s reserves
MoDem deputies met several times on Friday around François Bayrou to decide on their participation in the government, according to several centrist sources.
On X, the former centrist MP Jean-Louis Bourlanges “adjured” his friends to “overcome their reservations” because “the political, financial and international situation of the country is too serious”.
“After all the work we have accomplished on the societal level, Laurence Garnier and Bruno Retailleau in government, it’s NO!”, reacted EPR MP Ludovic Mendes.
The left is outraged
The left was also outraged by the choice of these ministers. “This is going to be the government of the Manif pour Tous,” denounced the head of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot on TF1.
“Why was there a dissolution if it was to have more or less the same people, even more to the right?” asked former socialist president François Hollande.
Gérald Darmanin announces his departure
Bruno Retailleau would replace Gérald Darmanin, who announced his departure Friday morning with a message of thanks to the agents of his ministry. Laurent Wauquiez, the leader of the LR deputies who harbors ambitions for the Élysée, had taken the lead on Thursday by announcing that he was giving up on entering the government as Minister of Finance.
On the Macronist side, the resigning MoDem Minister for European Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot should be proposed for Foreign Affairs, and the outgoing Minister for the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu should be reappointed.
Didier Migaud to Justice?
While he is struggling to find left-wing personalities, from whom he has been refused several times, only one diverse leftist appears among these full ministers. The name of Didier Migaud, current president of the HATVP and from the Socialist Party, is circulating for Justice.
He could have at his side the deputy Naïma Moutchou, who would be one of the two ministers of the Horizons party of Edouard Philippe with the deputy Paul Christophe in Social Affairs.
At Bercy, the ministry would be composed of a duo of Macronist deputies: Antoine Armand for the Economy and Industry on one side; Mathieu Lefèvre on the other for the Budget. It remains to be seen whether they would be overseen by a Minister of Finance or directly piloted by Matignon.
Among the outgoing members, Catherine Vautrin, ex-LR, would move from Labour to a broad Territories portfolio while Agnès Pannier-Runacher, from the left wing of Macron’s party, would leave Agriculture for Ecology.
General policy speech on October 1
Michel Barnier tried on Thursday at Matignon to reassure his potential partners. He affirmed that he would not increase taxes for the middle classes, a decision that satisfied Gabriel Attal, the leader of the EPR deputies, who had set this condition for participating in the government.
The Prime Minister, who appears to want to remain vague about his programme until his general policy statement on 1 October, said on Wednesday that he had discovered a “very serious budgetary situation”.
