Without major upheaval, but with eleven changes all the same in the ministerial team, Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne finally pressed the reshuffle button on Thursday, after having left their troops waiting for several weeks. The Head of State will speak at 11 a.m. this Friday morning at the start of the Council of Ministers.
Aurélien Rousseau, a health policy specialist
The traditional transfers of power between the outgoing and their successors will punctuate Friday morning. In particular at the Ministry of Health where François Braun will give way to Aurélien Rousseau, surprise guest of this reshuffle which will have exceeded the simple “adjustment” announced by the top of the executive.
Now in charge of a flagship project of Macron’s second five-year term, Aurélien Rousseau, director of cabinet for a year to Elisabeth Borne, is a specialist in health policies after having notably led the Regional Agency (ARS) of Ile-de-France during the Covid crisis. This senior official will have to come out of the shadows, a step long since taken by the other big winner of the maneuver: Gabriel Attal, promoted at only 34 years old from the austere Ministry of Public Accounts to that of Education.
Gabriel Attal continues his ascent
Gabriel Attal, who continues his ascent in macronie, took over from Pap Ndiaye rue de Grenelle on Thursday evening, setting himself the objective of “putting respect for authority and fundamental knowledge back at the heart of the school”, and insisting in particular on “respect for secularism”.
He will find Friday from 11:00 a.m. the table of the Council of Ministers around which will sit a few rookies, such as the new depositary of the Budget Thomas Cazenave, or even Aurore Bergé, leader of the group of Renaissance deputies who has become Minister of Solidarity, the deputy Sabrine Agresti-Roubache appointed to the City, or even the various left-wing mayor of Dunkirk Patrice Vergriete who is entering Housing.
In the end, after intense negotiations between a Prime Minister eager for change, and a President more inclined to stability, a slightly more politically seasoned team was put together, the number of ministers or secretaries of state having never been elected falling from 13 to 9. This is the lowest proportion (22%) of Macron’s mandate, after having crossed 40% in the first governments of Edouard Philippe, when Mr. Macron intended to give pride of place to civil society.
A stronger embodiment, an ability to implement reforms more quickly and efficiently
Apart from Roland Lescure and Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, excused, the 39 other members of the government are therefore invited for this last Council of Ministers in person before the summer break, which will undoubtedly allow Emmanuel Macron to distribute some holiday homework. Because the entourage of the Head of State has made it known that “on each of these portfolios” affected by the reshuffle “it is a question of either having a stronger incarnation, or an ability to implement the reforms with more speed and efficiency “.
By confirming the maintenance of Elisabeth Borne at Matignon at the start of the week, the Elysée had already indicated that the Head of State intended to “prepare for the start of the school year by recalling the clear course which is his and by gathering strongly after this period “. Because Mr. Macron remains in search of the key to his political equation: for lack of an absolute majority in the Assembly, a budgetary autumn is looming during which the 49.3 will be picked up in spades, with the sword of Damocles of a motion of censure likely to overthrow the government.