The suspense is almost over. The reshuffle of Elisabeth Borne’s government is expected for Thursday, after final “adjustments” on Wednesday evening, with Gabriel Attal approached for Education.
At the Elysée, where everything is played, nothing filters. The meetings followed on Wednesday, on nuclear policy in the morning, preparation for the Olympics in the afternoon. The only notable clue, the Prime Minister lingered after the second meeting. With no doubt settings to be arbitrated to refine the list of ministers.
These procrastination give the image of a “standoff” 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. The Head of State was expected in the evening at the Minister for Relations with Parliament, Franck Riester, who receives the parliamentarians of the majority for the traditional aperitif at the end of the session. An appointment which promises to be just as “baroque” as the dinner on Tuesday at the Elysée with all the members of the government, the future of some of the guests still being pending, starting with that of Frank Riester.
Attal to Education?
In the meantime, the ministers remain on the alert, on the lookout for the slightest signal. The fate of several of them, including Pap Ndiaye, which has never really “printed” politically with National Education, seems sealed. Budget Minister Gabriel Attal, 34, a rising star of Macronie, seemed to hold the rope to succeed him. “With the crisis in the suburbs, there is a need for authority to return, for order at school that it can embody,” said an adviser.
To Health, the future of Francois Braun, another minister from civil society considered too little political, did not seem to be decided. In any case, he left the Elysée all smiles after the meeting on the Olympics. As for the government spokesperson, Olivier Veranhe could save his post, while the names of the Renaissance deputies Maud Bregeon or Prisca Thevenot circulated insistently to succeed him.
On the other hand, the Secretary of State for the Social and Solidarity Economy Marlène Schiappa is, in everyone’s opinion, about to leave after being singled out for her management of the Marianne Fund.
Just like the Minister of Solidarity Jean-Christophe Combe. He could, according to sources from the presidential camp, be replaced by the president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly, Aurore Bergé, unless the post ultimately goes to the deputy of the presidential party Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet.
Only one certainty, according to several ministerial advisers, “the president does not want a big reshuffle, the Prime Minister pushes for”. In the end, “five or six” ministries are concerned, believes an adviser to the majority, when others mention a dozen.
” Nothing changes “
Large-scale “adjustments” risk going unnoticed in the middle of the holidays, underline some, for whom the maneuver is mainly intended to bring out ministers deemed too weak. The head of government hopes for her part to regain height, after the pension crisis and the urban riots, with a team more on the offensive and well identified. For the opposition, the fight remains the same. The maintenance of Elisabeth Borne, “it is a signal that nothing will change”, insists the head of the National Rally deputies, Marine Le Pen. “We will end up with a government in which the ministers play musical chairs with each other and completely unknown people”, asserts his counterpart on the LFI side, Mathilde Panot.
The minister of the Interior Gerald Darmaninwho seemed to hold the rope for Matignon before the Head of State confirmed Elisabeth Borne, could for his part take the title of Minister of State, one more mark of his growing weight within the executive.
For the head of the Renaissance deputies Aurore Bergé, Elisabeth Borne, who has chained the ordeals of fire since her arrival at Matignon in May 2022, has in any case “earned the respect” of her camp by her “strength of character” and “work”. For 56% of French people, however, she remains a bad Prime Minister, even if her image has improved slightly since the start of the year, according to an ELABE / BFMTV poll published on Wednesday. More than 8 out of 10 French people believe that Emmanuel Macron “missed” his “100 days” decreed in mid-April after the pension reform.
