Thirty-four ministers, including two former prime ministers. Seventeen men and as many women. Several reconfirmations and new weight entries. A right-wing government. This is the formula chosen by the designated French prime minister, the centrist François Bayrou, for the 46th executive of the Fifth Republic, the fourth in a year and the sixth since Emmanuel Macron, elected for his first term in 2017, became president.
These are the reconfirmations: at the Interior Bruno Retailleau, embodiment of the most right wing of the Republicans; for Foreign Affairs, the centrist Jean-Noël Barrot; to the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, a former Republican Macronist; to Rachida Dati Culture; to Agriculture Annie Genevard; to the Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher; to Work, health and solidarity Catherine Vautrin. The former Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, was appointed to Justice. Among the new entries, those of two former prime ministers stand out: Manuel Valls, overseas minister (yesterday was a day of mourning for the deaths of the Chido cyclone in Mayotte) and Elisabeth Borne, minister of education and research. François Rebsamen goes to Territory and decentralization. Eric Lombard, general director of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti of France and number one of Generali France, was called to cover the delicate role of Minister of Economy. Marie Barsac becomes Minister of Sport and Aurore Bergé responsible for Equality and the fight against discrimination. «A collective of experience to reconcile and recreate trust with all the French» commented Bayrou.
In the Justice box, we witnessed a show of strength by Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National, which would have had the name of the moderate republican Xavier Bertrand, Le Pen's bitter adversary, crossed out at the last moment.
From the left, the prime minister-designate is accused of being held in check by the Lepenists. «It's not a government, it's a provocation. The far right in power under surveillance of the far right” commented socialist secretary Olivier Faure on X. “Bayrou had said that, unlike Barnier, he would not put himself in the hands of the Rassemblement National, yet that is exactly what he did” accused Marine Tondelier, secretary of the Greens. For his part, the president of the Rassemblement, Jordan Bardella, spoke of a “coalition of the defeated”, promising that in 2025 “more than ever, the RN will be present to defend and protect our compatriots, while we wait for an alternative”.
In a letter sent yesterday morning to the president of the Republican Right group in the National Assembly, Laurent Wauquiez, and to the president of the Republican group in the Senate, Mathieu Darnaud, Bayrou declared that he shared some key points indicated by them for government action . In particular, “order and security” as well as the urgency of “getting public finances back on track” through “a vigorous action of administrative simplification”. It also ensured a commitment to work on “industrial and agricultural production capabilities” so that France can regain “full economic sovereignty”. And he promised “a new method of government”, made up of “solid and clear compromises, respectful of everyone's positions”.
Appointed by Macron on 13 December, immediately after Michel Barnier's flash government had been disheartened by the unprecedented alliance between Mélenchon's far left (La France Insoumise) and Le Pen's far right, the 73-year-old Bayrou will have to deal with a parliament split into three blocs: left-wing alliance (anti-Le Pen), Macronians and centrists, far right. The first Council of Ministers is convened for January 3.
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