France: “final adjustments” underway for the composition of the government

French President Emmanuel Macron, returned from a three-day trip, and his Prime Minister François Bayrou met twice on Sunday and are expected to meet again with a view to quickly appointing a government.

Mr. Bayrou, appointed on December 13, is making final adjustmentsspecified his entourage, while Mr. Macron returned Sunday morning from a tour which took him to Brussels, to the French archipelago of Mayotte devastated by cyclone Chido as well as to East Africa.

It's moving forward […]the structuring of the major ministerial centers is fixedassured Saturday evening Marc Fesneau, the president of the deputies of Mr. Bayrou's party, the MoDem. He confirmed that the full government list should be presented in one go et before Christmas.

François Bayrou, 73, was appointed by Emmanuel Macron after lengthy consultations to find a successor to conservative Michel Barnier, whose minority government was overthrown on December 4 by left and far-right deputies after just three months in office.

An announcement on Sunday?

The new centrist prime minister must navigate the fragmented political scene resulting from the early legislative elections organized after the surprise dissolution of the National Assembly by Mr. Macron in June. The hemicycle is fractured into three blocks (left alliance; Macronists and centrists; far right); none has an absolute majority.

Many signals are converging towards a government appointment on Sunday evening. It is in fact unlikely that an executive will be announced on Monday due to the day of national mourning decreed by the Head of State for the island of Mayotte.

There would still be Tuesday, December 24, just before France plunges into the end-of-year celebrations.

Mr. Bayrou wants to form a team that is tight and as open as possible. He wants it to include significant personalities, from the left as well as the right and the center, in order to respond to the emergencies facing the country, particularly in budgetary matters.

Work to do

Mr. Bayrou's first week in Matignon was especially marked by the barrage of criticism over his presence on the municipal council of Pau, a town in the southwest of which he intends to remain mayor, during the crisis in Mayotte.

He has a historically low popularity rating for taking office, with 66% of French people saying they are dissatisfied, according to a barometer published on Sunday.

Among the names mentioned for his government are those of the former Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne or the former Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. Among those leaving, Catherine Vautrin (Territories), Rachida Dati (Culture) and Sébastien Lecornu (Armies) should remain, probably in the same portfolios.

On the left, former socialist minister François Rebsamen, 73, announced that he is ready to join the government, touting his relationship of trust for a long time with François Bayrou.

However, almost nothing filters out other personalities, particularly from the left.

The Socialist Party formally refused to participate in the government and its leader, Olivier Faure, left Matignon disappointed on Thursday, saying he dismayed at the poverty of what [a été] propose. He did not rule out censoring the new prime minister.

François Bayrou accepted the principle of opening a reflection to review the highly contested reform which raised the retirement age to 64 years. However, without suspension of this reform, the socialists consider the gesture insufficient.

Saturday evening, the leader of the deputies of the Les Républicains (LR) party, Laurent Wauquiez, confirmed to his troops that he was moving towards the participation of this right-wing formation in the government, without participating himself. Mr. Bayrou announced his intention to maintain the very right-wing Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau.