constraint or boon for the Prime Minister?

POLITICS – As a good rugby fan from Pau, François Bayrou knows it: the more heavyweights there are in a scrum, the more likely the team is to advance. A logic which undoubtedly guided his choice to appoint, with Emmanuel Macron, several leading figures in his government.

This is the main novelty of the era opened by the centrist at Matignon. His team formed just before Christmas welcomes several major figures from the political sphere, including two former Prime Ministers (an unprecedented fact), while Michel Barnier’s team was cruelly lacking in figures identified by the general public.

Sign of this return of “ heavy goods vehicles »: the four personalities who follow François Bayrou in protocol order, Élisabeth Borne, Manuel Valls, Bruno Retailleau and Gérald Darmanin are Minister of State. A title that is above all honorary, which had disappeared since the end of the successive governments of Edouard Philippe between 2017 and 2020. Nonetheless. Wanted by the new strong man in the executive, this architecture is not without risk as certain controversies already show two weeks after the installation of the government.

“Leave autonomy” and take the blows

Around François Bayrou, we are currently relying on a dense, capable team, with strong personalities, “ to embody » major issues according to the established term and to respond to the priorities of the French. “He wants to be the conductor of the orchestra, above all, and leave autonomy to his soloists,” explains to us a close friend of the head of government, more of a music lover than a rugby player, confirming the abandonment of the circuit of rereading interviews with ministers by Matignon. A novelty there too, after the habit adopted by its predecessors.

In addition to the quartet of ministers of state, the centrist leader can also count on experienced profiles whose words already promise to carry weight. This is the case, for example, of the new Minister of Economy and Finance, Eric Lombard, close to the Socialist Party, who replaced Antoine Armand, the youngest tenant of Bercy. So many personalities likely to help their leader in several respects.

First of all, they have political and media depth which allows them to take blows in place of François Bayrou. Since his team has been in place, the head of government has managed to get out of the swamp of petty controversies, particularly on Mayotte, which he had patiently provoked in a few days at Matignon. In her place, Élisabeth Borne suffered arrows after an awkward reaction to caregivers on the archipelago and Manuel Valls concentrated the flood of criticism after his spectacular return to business.

Another undeniable benefit is that these different tenors allow the government to cover several fronts and address all or several components of the political sphere. At the same time. Thus, when the Darmanin – Retailleau duo, the most right-wing Justice – Interior couple of recent decades, speaks to elected officials and to the French who put the fight against insecurity and immigration at the top of their priority, others , like Eric Lombard, are there to speak to the left. Skillful.

Darmanin and Borne are already putting pressure

The main person concerned is also the first to be aware of their job description. Negotiate with the socialists? “ This is the reason for my presence in the government team », recognizes in the columns from New Obs the one who is friends with Olivier Faure in the “ private », at a time when discussions are continuing in Bercy with the non-LFI left. Or the most direct way of “ find the way » non-censorship, as François Bayrou has promised since his arrival at Matignon.

Problem: all these advantages also have their downside for the scrum half, or the leader of the orchestra. For good reason, several of his ministers, with thicker skin than their predecessors, cherish national ambitions, why not Elysian ones. They are therefore keen to protect their political corridor, a guarantee of an electoral future, without denying the convictions which made them emerge into the general public. Clearly, if their voices are higher, their slings risk being more painful.

The recent releases of Gérald Darmanin and Élisabeth Borne show this. Both, in Justice and Education, have already indicated that they would not accept the budgetary cuts that their predecessors agreed to with Michel Barnier. Thus, the Minister of National Education wants to return to the elimination of teaching positions, while her colleague, Gérald Darmanin, does not miss an opportunity to demand additional resources for prisons and magistrates.

In the current context, the case of the Minister of Justice is very revealing of these new balances. The former first cop of France », who made Michel Barnier pay dearly for his ouster last September, is back in business with considerable weight. Now he is redrawing the contours of Place Vendôme, taking up the key subjects he developed… Place Beauvau.

The risk? Highlighting contradictions

Nothing surprising, therefore, to see him respond sharply to Élisabeth Borne on land rights in Mayotte. A skirmish that calls for others in this team. A few hours later, it was indeed Bruno Retailleau who lit another fire with Macronist tenors, by evoking the ban on the veil for those accompanying school outings. A fire quickly extinguished by the government spokesperson, but which clearly reflects the other pitfall of the strategy of ” heavy goods vehicles ».

François Bayrou will, at one point or another, be called upon to resolve certain substantive debates. This is where things could get seriously complicated. So, what to do with pension reform, hated by the left under the rather benevolent eye of Eric Lombard? What about state medical aid (AME), criticized by Bruno Retailleau but supported by the “ bloc central » ? Or sexual and emotional education at school, which Élisabeth Borne wishes to put at the top of her priorities, despite the cries of horror from the right?

These debates will be as many risks for the executive and its leaders to shed light on the dissensions which run through the fragile alloy supposed to support it. An identified pitfall. “ François is the best among us at finding consensual answers and resolving blockages », wants to believe, optimistically, a close friend of Béarnais. And anyway, “ It’s not his habit to surround himself with bad people to be the only one to shine. » In short, the centrist knows that his role will be major in preventing his heavyweights from pushing in opposite directions. Otherwise, the scrum can quickly collapse.