After a ten-day diplomatic marathon and having once again tasked Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne with forming a “government of action”, French President Emmanuel Macron named an enlarged government of 41 ministers on Monday morning (4 July), but without any poaching or significant surprises.
A reshuffle was certainly expected after the defeat of several ministers in the parliamentary elections and to allocate the portfolios that were not there before. Tradition dictates that the ministers defeated in the legislative elections must leave the government, therefore they were replaced on Monday.
The heavyweights confirmed
In the ‘regalien’, or the heavyweight ministries, all ministers were confirmed: Bruno Le Maire in the super-ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial Sovereignty and Digital, Catherine Colonna in Foreign Affairs, Sébastien Lecornu and Éric Dupond-Moretti in the Armed Forces and Justice.
Gérald Darmanin is not only confirmed at the Ministry of the Interior but sees his portfolio extended to that of the Overseas Territories. However, a Secretary of State has also been appointed and is specifically in charge of these territories.
Again, Gabriel Attal, Pap Ndiaye, Olivier Dussopt and Marc Fesneau were confirmed respectively as Minister of Public Accounts, National Education, Labour, and Agriculture.
Defeated ministers, replaced ministers
At the Ecological Transition, Amélie de Montchalin is replaced by her Minister Delegate Christophe Béchu, who will continue the fight against climate change with Agnès Pannier-Runacher, confirmed at the Energy Transition.
François Braun, head of the emergency department at Metz hospital, has been appointed to the Ministry of Health, replacing Brigitte Bourguignon, who was also defeated in the legislative elections.
The new minister will be assisted by Jean-Christophe Combe, director-general of the French Red Cross, who has been appointed minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and the Disabled, replacing Damien Abad, who was re-elected as a deputy whose continued presence in government had become extremely controversial.
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As Justine Benin also lost her position as MP in the June elections, the Secretariat of State for the Sea was given to Hervé Berville, a young MP from Côtes-d’Armor.
Parliamentarians and allied parties promoted
While in 2017, Emmanuel Macron had made many appointments outside the confines of parliament, notably by drawing on “civil society”, this time, he seems to have chosen to promote several MPs.
The June legislative elections put the National Assembly back in the centre of the game, giving Macron and Borne a relative majority and forcing them to expand it on a case-by-case basis.
In addition to Hervé Berville already mentioned, Roland Lescure (Industry), Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo (Territorial Organisation and Health Professions), Olivier Becht (Foreign Trade) and Jean-Noël Barrot (Digital Transition) have now joined the government.
Their appointment is also a response to the perplexities of Agir, Horizons, and MoDem, the centre-right and centre parties that form the coalition in support of Macron, which was previously poorly represented.
Major returns and portfolio changes
Among the notable changes, Clément Beaune leaves the Ministry of Europe to take over the Ministry of Transport. He will be succeeded by Laurence Boone, chief economist at the OECD, who will be in charge of European Affairs.
Franck Riester – until then Minister for Foreign Trade – will take over the responsibility for relations with parliament, replacing Olivier Véran, who has become government spokesman. The latter therefore takes the place of Olivia Grégoire, now in charge of Craft Industry and Tourism. Both lasted just over a month in their previous positions.
A signal to the right and to the territories
The appointment of right-wing politician Riester can be read as a signal to the right-wing of the hemicycle in the phase of instability due to the lack of absolute majority in the National Assembly.
The 62 Les Républicains deputies could be very valuable for the President and the Prime Minister, who have the support of 242 deputies out of the 289 needed to reach an absolute majority. The appointment of Borne’s second government has not yet made it possible to overcome this problem.
Also, local elected officials, have been appointed to counter criticism of a presidential party out of touch with the ground. The mayor of Clichy, Olivier Klein, and the mayor of Beauvais, Caroline Cayeux, have been appointed to the government (one in charge of the City and Housing and the other in charge of the Territorial Collectivities) alongside Christophe Béchu, mayor of Angers.
The new government has many tasks, starting with the response to inflation and the problems of purchasing power or the recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic. The new government will meet on Monday at 4pm.
The executive is looking closely at this issue and has not yet decided whether the prime minister will request a vote of confidence in her general policy speech on Wednesday (6 July).
While in many parliamentary systems, such a vote is a requirement, in France, it is the choice of the head of government.
The government could still be toppled if the opposition votes a censure motion, most likely tabled by the La France Insoumise group. The possibility of this motion gathering more than 289 votes is reduced, as all the opposition should vote on the same text, while some of them are expected to choose to simply abstain.
[Edited by Alice Taylor/Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
