The President phosphorus but still no white smoke. After days of consulting on the recomposition of the government, Emmanuel Macron is playing overtime to appoint his new government team. However, two candidates seem to be holding the lead this Sunday, January 7 for the post of Prime Minister: Julien Denormandie and Sébastien Lecornu. Without forgetting a possible retention of Elisabeth Borne. “Everything is possible… including nothing”summarizes to AFP a close friend of the head of state.
But within the majority, the announced duel between Denormandie and Lecornu revives the long-standing quarrel between the former Macronists, of which Julien Denormandie is a part, and the “moderns” like Sébastien Lecornu, rallied from the right.
The first, 43 years old, has been sailing for a decade in the wake of Emmanuel Macron, with whom he almost set up a start-up in 2014, before embarking for Bercy as deputy chief of staff to the man who was then Minister of Defense. ‘Economy. Engineer at En Marche, the flagship of the 2017 presidential campaign, Julien Denormandie then headed the Ministry of Housing, then Agriculture, before reorienting his career in the private sector in 2022. While confiding to visitors that he could not refuse Matignon, if the opportunity presented itself.
For his part, Sébastien Lecornu knew how to weave his web in macronie, after joining Macron in 2017, from the Republicans (LR), like two other former Prime Ministers, Edouard Philippe and Jean Castex. Minister of the Armed Forces at only 37 years old, after having officiated in Overseas Territories and Communities as well as Ecology under Nicolas Hulot at the start of the first five-year term, Lecornu established himself as one of the political advisors of the head of the State, with several elective mandates (mayor of Vernon, president of the departmental council of Eure, senator, etc.). A more political profile, at a time when we have to deal with a relative majority in the Assembly and a Senate, dominated by the right, boosted by the vote on the immigration law at the end of December which takes up a large majority of its proposals.
During this weekend of all-out rumors, another lead fizzled out, that of Richard Ferrand. This historic Macronist, former president of the National Assembly, himself put an end to the rumors sending him to Matignon. “The President of the Republic knew that I did not wish to return to politics shortly after my defeat in the legislative elections, which I confirmed to him”explained the former socialist to BFMTV.
“Government solidarity”
There remains therefore the hypothesis of the maintenance of Elisabeth Borne. If the current Prime Minister had saved her head at the last minute in July in the face of the push of Gérald Darmanin who was pushing to take Matignon, the head of government managed to push through the immigration law at the end of the year, then that it had been incorrectly fitted by the Minister of the Interior.
“Elisabeth Borne is a very courageous Prime Minister. She is at work, and all the ministers support her in the name of government solidarity. Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labor, also spoke this Sunday on Europe1/CNews. On an ejection seat, the latter then took care to recall his service records, having notably pushed through the unemployment insurance and pension reforms. The fate of this former socialist, however, is suspended by a court decision on January 17 in his trial for favoritism.
Also out on Sunday, on France 3, Bruno Le Maire defended his role as Minister of the Economy, describing a studious New Year’s Eve: “I work, I read the budgetary decisions, the question of prices.” Pretender “know nothing” of a possible reshuffle, Le Maire said “proud and happy of the functions [qu’il] occupies in Bercy ».
While waiting to complete his casting, Emmanuel Macron has already remodeled the interior of the Elysée. And he can already count on the pen that will put these changes to music: as revealed Release At the end of December, Jonathan Guémas once again became communications advisor to the President. In point, the one who held this position during the first five-year term, before leaving for the private sector at Publicis, announces his return from Tuesday January 9. He will replace the special “communications and strategy” advisor, Frédéric Michel, who left the presidential ship on December 14, in the midst of the psychodrama surrounding the immigration bill.
The presidency also approved the arrival of a new chief of staff, published in Official newspaper Friday: Patrice Faure, former prefect then High Commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia, to succeed Patrick Strzoda, one of the last members of the circle of faithful Elysians to accompany him since 2017.