Back-to-school atmosphere for the government. This Friday, January 3 marks the first Council of Ministers of François Bayrou. For the first time in 2025, Emmanuel Macro brings together at the Elysée the new government of his centrist ally, appointed after the censorship of his predecessor who remained for only three months.
Like every new year, members of the government will first go to Place Beauvau, at the Ministry of the Interior, for the traditional back-to-school breakfast. Then they will present their wishes on foot at the Elysée at 10 a.m.
There are 35 of them gathered around the Prime Minister and the President, eleven days after they took office. An unusually long duration: mainly due to the date of their appointment just before Christmas and the famous “confectioners' truce”… Even if most ministers did not wait to tackle their file. Thus, on the ground, we were able to see the Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin in the courts and prisons, Yannick Neuder in hospitals, while Manuel Valls has just returned from a five-day trip between Mayotte and the island of La Meeting.
“We did not wait for this Council of Ministers to delve into emergencies, this meeting does not really mark the kick-off“, whispers a ministerial advisor, already tired by these first days. Another cabinet member puts the interest of this day into perspective with a sporting metaphor: “Here, we are at the end of the transfer window phase. Today is training. And the start of the championship will be on January 14 with the general policy speech in front of Parliament“, according to him.
The ministers do not have a direct meeting at the Elysée: the meeting place is set at Bruno Retailleau's Ministry of the Interior, around the traditional breakfast at the start of the year, Place Beauvau. This first informal exchange, lasting one hour, far from the cameras, is an opportunity for the eight government novices to get to know the teams already in place.
-The other ministers were already in the Barnier team. They will then walk to the Cour de l'Elysée, a few meters away, Faubourg Saint-Honoré. And at the end of this Council of Ministers, the report given by the government spokesperson, Sophie Primas, will take place in a room at the Elysée, and no longer in premises at Matignon as took place under the Barnier era.
The menu seems light pFor this first Council of Ministers, which promises to be quite short: the big issue has been postponed. The Mayotte emergency bill is ultimately not presented today, but postponed to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday January 8. Matignon assures that the text is being finalized by including elements of the “Mayotte standing” plan and requests from local elected officials, whom François Bayrou and several of his ministers met.
“Reconciliation, action, stability” are the three wishes formulated by the new Prime Minister François Bayrou. It is the “method“Bayrou, deciphers a relative: starting from discussions with elected officials to meet the real expectations of the Mahorais. And moreover the Prime Minister intends to reproduce this technique: “Going into detail about the problems of the French, to force politicians to move away from posturing“, his entourage tells us.
