Eight new entrants, the departure of Marlène Schiappa… Before the official composition of the new government on Thursday, the strange week the strange week of ministerial “adjustments” gave the feeling of improvisation or even dissonance at the top of the executive.
Monday evening, it is the entourage of the Head of State, selected for a summit in Brussels, who announces lip service that the Prime Minister will remain in office.
She is not summoned to the Elysee Palace to resign and then be reappointed as is sometimes the custom, but makes it known that she “wishes” to make “adjustments”.
The next day, first names begin to circulate, especially among the likely outgoing: Pap Ndiaye (Education), François Braun (Health), and Jean-Christophe Combe (Solidarities), all from civil society brought to the pinnacle by Emmanuel Macron in 2017.
“Some did not have the codes completely”
Ministers must have “the vision, the ability to lead their administration”, warned Elisabeth Borne, in June, in Le Figaro.
“Some did not completely have the codes and the government has a lot of priorities on health and education, where it must give a boost and therefore have more political profiles”, notes a familiar with the executive.
Questions about political balances already arise when Geneviève Darrieussecq is added to the putative list of sacked persons, in particular the Minister for Disabled People, labeled MoDem.
Ministerial sources and within the majority wonder about the dimension of the change. “The larger the adjustment, the more points she (Elisabeth Borne) will have earned,” said one of them.
The rumor circulates of an enmity between the Prime Minister and her Minister in charge of Relations with Parliament Franck Riester, denied by Matignon.
A reception deemed “baroque”
“You have to take a lot of distance”: Emmanuel Macron tries to play down the wait, Tuesday, during the traditional dinner of ministers before the summer break. A reception deemed “baroque”, even “sadistic” by advisers.
Rumors pick up again on Wednesday. Matignon denies any disagreement on the “adjustments” to be made and depicts a relationship of “trust” at the head of the executive.
The Prime Minister lingers at the Elysée for the final adjustments. These procrastination give the image of a “showdown” between Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne “around a reshuffle which was not supposed to be one”, since the president initially hoped to minimize this sequence, comments a macronist executive.
Finally, the announcement of the new cast for a time hoped for Wednesday will take place on Thursday. The Council of Ministers is postponed.
Media leaks
The suspense is akin to torture when ministers and parliamentarians meet on Wednesday evening for the end-of-session aperitif at the Ministry of Relations with Parliament.
Pap Ndiaye is not present. But François Braun, bravado, came. He will even be on a radio Thursday morning, still confident in his future, before finally being notified of his departure at the end of lunch.
Gabriel Attal, rising star of macronie, is approached for Education. A press release is announced for 5:30 p.m.
But even before the formalization of the government, reshuffled with eight new ministers, the string of entrants is shelled in the media, confirmed unofficially from ministerial sources or from the presidential camp, when it is not the minister himself who announces it to the media.
The arrival of François Bayrou at the Elysée for officially “a private moment” raises the temperature. Especially since rumors give the deputy Horizons Frédéric Valletoux to Health, at the risk of further upsetting the political balance of the majority.
The boss of the Modem intervened to counter the maneuver, assures a parliamentary source, which François Bayrou denies.
It is finally Aurélien Rousseau, outgoing director of cabinet of Elisabeth Borne and former boss of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Ile-de-France during the Covid-19 crisis, who will be chosen for Health, surprised by this reshuffle. He had outspoken support from Matignon, according to a source within the presidential camp.
Everything seems to be on track, but the release is delayed by a final game of musical chairs.
The sequence of the reshuffle “was lunar”, comments a Renaissance deputy. “If we had wanted to strengthen the government, we would have done things differently.”
Friday morning, Olivier Véran, who remained spokesperson, ensures that the government emerges “strengthened” from this reshuffle, when the day before the entourage of the Head of State underlined the “technical” nature of the changes.
Finally Emmanuel Macron explains at the opening of the Council of Ministers, before the new government finally assembled on Friday, having chosen “continuity and efficiency”. His entourage promises that he will speak again in the “coming days”.