An “experienced” government to “reconcile” the French: François Bayrou summoned heavyweights, including former Prime Ministers Elisabeth Borne and Manuel Valls, to form his team, eagerly awaited in a National Assembly without a majority.
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A team of 35 members, fewer than the Barnier government (42) but less tight than envisaged, and almost equal with 18 women and 17 men. And marked by a certain continuity with 19 ministers retained in the new team. Which is already sparking an avalanche of criticism from the oppositions.
An “extreme right” government in the form of “provocation”, judged the boss of the PS Olivier Faure. A team “filled with people disowned at the polls and who contributed to sinking our country,” added the head of LFI deputies Mathilde Panot.
The National Rally, for its part, handles irony: “fortunately ridicule does not kill” because “François Bayrou brought together the coalition of failure,” judged the president of the far-right party Jordan Bardella.
François Bayrou will explain his choices this Monday evening on BFMTV. The first council of ministers of this new team is scheduled for January 3, and its leader will deliver his general policy declaration on January 14 in the Assembly.
The new prime minister had long proclaimed his ability to appoint a government of broad openness, on both the right and the left. Unsurprisingly, the team announced on Monday does not include any member of the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP).
The team includes four ministers of state, including two former tenants of Matignon: Élisabeth Borne takes charge of National Education, while Manuel Valls inherits the explosive Overseas file, with the emergency situation in Mayotte and in New Caledonia, and with the rank of number 3 in the government.
Three months after his departure from the Interior, Gérald Darmanin also returns to the government, also with the rank of Minister of State: he inherits Justice, a position initially offered to Xavier Bertrand, who made it known shortly before the announcement of the government that he refused to join a team composed “with the approval of Marine Le Pen”.
AFP
Mr. Darmanin, who was eyeing Foreign Affairs, will act in tandem with Bruno Retailleau, reinforced at Place Beauvau with the rank of Minister of State.
AFP
Among the new entrants, Éric Lombard, general director of the Caisse des Dépôts, is appointed Minister of the Economy. François Rebsamen, former minister of François Hollande who has provided critical support to Emmanuel Macron since 2022, inherits Territorial Planning and decentralization.
Another ex-PS, Juliette Méadel was appointed minister delegate in charge of the city.
The Bayrou government also includes 19 reappointed ministers including Sébastien Lecornu (Defense), Jean-Noël Barrot (Foreign Affairs), Annie Genevard (Agriculture) and Rachida Dati (Culture), Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet (Labor and Employment) and Valérie Letard (Accommodation).
Outgoing ministers change portfolio, like Catherine Vautrin, who returns to a large Ministry of Health and Labor.
Or Laurent Saint-Martin, who handed over the Public Accounts to a Macronist ghost, Amélie de Montchalin, for the Foreign Trade portfolio.
Laurent Marcangeli, the president of the Horizons deputies, the party of Édouard Philippe, inherits the Civil Service, while François Bayrou has entrusted the strategic position of Relations with Parliament to a close friend, the MoDem Patrick Mignola.
The centrist's government base would 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.
While François Bayrou hoped to announce his team during the weekend, it finally fell on Monday, declared a day of national mourning by President Emmanuel Macron for the archipelago devastated by Cyclone Chido.
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, so that “the Mahorais feel surrounded by an entire country” , declared François Bayrou Monday morning in the Matignon courtyard.
One of the first tasks of this government, the fourth of the year 2024, will be to have a budget adopted, while the government of Michel Barnier was overthrown by the Assembly on the first major financial text, the budget of the Social security.
On Thursday, François Bayrou said on France 2 that he hoped for the adoption of a budget “in mid-February”, without being “sure of getting there”. He then clarified that he would start from “the copy that was voted on” in Parliament before the censorship of the Barnier government.
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