François Bayrou's government will be announced at 6:30 p.m.

The government of François Bayrou will be unveiled Monday at 6:30 p.m., indicated the Élysée, epilogue to ten days of negotiations between the Prime Minister and Emmanuel Macron, while France reflects on the eve of the Christmas holidays for Mayotte, ravaged by a cyclone. This Monday was, however, a date that the Élysée and Matignon wanted to avoid because of this national mourning.

The Presidency of the Republic announced that the Secretary General of the Élysée Alexis Kohler would list the composition of the government at 6:30 p.m. Previously, the Prime Minister is expected at 4:30 p.m. at the interministerial crisis center in Mayotte, at the Ministry of the Interior, in the immediate vicinity of the presidential palace.

A minute of silence was observed throughout the country at 11 a.m. in tribute to the victims of the disaster, whose provisional toll stands at 35 dead and 2,500 injured.

The centrist leader, 73, fourth Prime Minister in 2024, hopes to compose a government of heavyweights, able to avoid censorship, with personalities from the right, the center and the left.

His entourage announced on Sunday that the Prime Minister was “making the final adjustments to his government”. Several telephone exchanges with Emmanuel Macron took place on Sunday, as well as an interview in the evening at the Elysée.

“It’s moving forward. (…) The structuring of the major ministerial poles is fixed,” assured during the weekend the president of the MoDem deputies, Marc Fesneau, close to François Bayrou, confirming that the complete list of the government should be presented “in a single times” and “before Christmas”.

But the composition of a government responds to a subtle dosage which must in particular respect political balances, parity between men and women, and the susceptibilities of people. Above all, ministers will have to urgently prepare a budget for 2025, under pressure from oppositions and the financial markets.

The names of the former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne or the former Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin are mentioned to join François Bayrou's team, as is that of Xavier Bertrand, president of Hauts-de-France and figure of the right-wing Les Républicains (LR) party.

The latter, cited for Justice, is an irritant for the National Rally, which he has fought for a long time. Especially since Marine Le Pen awaits her judgment, with possible ineligibility, in the trial of the assistants of the European Parliament.

“Who understands what François Bayrou wants to do? Apart from recycling those who made mistakes,” said the vice-president of the National Rally Sébastien Chenu on Sunday on BFMTV, recalling nevertheless that the far-right group was “not going to vote for an immediate motion of censure” .

As for Gerald Darmanin, ex-LR rallied to the macronie, he publicly applied for the Quai d'Orsay where the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot (MoDem) would like to stay.

On the left, former socialist minister François Rebsamen, 73, announced in La Tribune on Sunday that he was “ready” to join the government, praising his long-standing “relationship of trust” with François Bayrou.

But almost nothing filters out other personalities from the left who could be tempted to join François Bayrou.

The Socialist Party formally refused to participate in the government and its leader Olivier Faure left Matignon disappointed last Thursday, saying he was “dismayed by the poverty of what (was) proposed” and not ruling out censoring the brand new Prime Minister. minister, ally from the start of Emmanuel Macron.

Among those leaving, Catherine Vautrin (Territories), Rachida Dati (Culture) and Sébastien Lecornu (Armies) should remain, probably in the same portfolios.

Saturday evening, the leader of the Les Républicains deputies Laurent Wauquiez confirmed to his troops that he was moving towards the participation of his party in the government, subject to written commitments from the Prime Minister “with details on the road map”, particularly budgetary. . However, he had indicated that he would not join the Bayrou team himself after having aspired to take the Finance portfolio.

On the other hand, the outgoing Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau is on course to stay.

The centrist's government base would thus ultimately be quite close to that of LR Michel Barnier, overthrown on December 4 by a motion of censure from the National Assembly, after three months in office.