Nineteen entrants and five leavers, including Damien Abad: two weeks after the legislative elections, the government was reshuffled on Monday, a way to fully launch a five-year term which promises to be perilous, as illustrated by the renunciation of Elisabeth Borne to solicit Wednesday the confidence of Parliament.

The Prime Minister is now expected at the turn, Wednesday, for her general policy statement that she must deliver before the National Assembly.

But she will not seek a vote of confidence from parliamentarians – a tradition from which Prime Ministers Michel Rocard, Edith Cresson or Pierre Bérégovoy had also departed in their time, under François Mitterrand, who also only had a relative majority. in the hemicycle.

“We are not certain that the conditions for this trust would have been met (…) We will work text by text”, justified Monday afternoon the new government spokesman, Olivier Véran, at the end of the first Council of Ministers Terminal II.

In the preamble to the meeting, the Head of State had said “to take note of the lack of will of the parties of government to participate in a government agreement or any form of coalition”, after having consulted at all costs.

“Nobody has an interest in blocking”, hammered Mr. Véran again, saying he was “convinced” that a motion of censure, promised by La France insoumise, would not collect a majority.

Mr. Véran retains the portfolio of “Democratic Renewal” after the reshuffle on Monday morning, but abandons the strategic Ministry of Relations with Parliament, which falls to Franck Riester, until then holder of the Foreign Trade portfolio.

Mrs. Grégoire, who will only have been spokesperson for a month and a half, becomes for her part Minister of SMEs, Commerce, Crafts and Tourism.

Caillou in the shoe of the executive, Damien Abad (Solidarities and people with disabilities), targeted by an investigation for attempted rape after the complaint of a woman and a third testimony against him on Monday, leaves the government. He is replaced by the boss of the Red Cross, Jean-Christophe Combe.

“The conditions of serenity were no longer present,” argued Mr. Véran.

The new team intends to reflect a subtle mix of representatives of its different political forces.

Christophe Béchu, close to Edouard Philippe, an ally of LREM with his Horizons party, is promoted to Minister for Ecological Transition – replacing Amélie de Montchalin, beaten in the legislative elections – in addition to the portfolio of Territorial Cohesion that he was already occupying.

MP Horizons Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, another close friend of Mr. Philippe, has been appointed Minister Delegate for Territorial Organization and Health Professions.

The MoDem wins for its part three positions: Sarah El Haïry (Youth and Universal National Service), Geneviève Darrieussecq (Disabled people) and Jean-Noël Barrot (Digital Transition and Telecommunications).

Olivier Becht, pillar of the center-right Agir party, inherits Foreign Trade.

On the left flank of the macronie, the mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), Olivier Klein, passed by the PCF and the PS, becomes Minister Delegate for the City and Housing, an appointment welcomed by the world of housing, after a period when the portfolio was diluted in a large Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Among the entrants from civil society, the emergency doctor François Braun (Minister of Health and Prevention) replaces Brigitte Bourguignon, beaten in the legislative elections.

The chief economist of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Laurence Boone, becomes Secretary of State for Europe, replacing Clément Beaune, who is leaving for Transport.

Former prefect Jean-François Carenco obtains the Overseas portfolio instead of Yaël Braun-Pivet, elected president of the National Assembly last week. But overseas elected officials have denounced the changeover of this ministry under the supervision of the Interior, a first since Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-year term.

At La République en Marche, MP Roland Lescure is in charge of Industry, Bérangère Couillard of Ecology and Hervé Berville appointed Secretary of State for the Sea to replace Justine Benin, also beaten in the legislative elections.

It is also the return of the former Minister Marlène Schiappa, appointed Secretary of State in charge of the Social and Solidarity Economy and Community Life.

The opposition harshly greeted the announcement of the new team.

At the RN, MP and ex-presidential finalist Marine Le Pen lamented on Twitter that “those who failed (will) all be renewed”.

“The macronie in the galley of recruitment”, that is to say the “sign of a power in the process of decomposition”, for her part reacted the president of the LFI group in the National Assembly Mathilde Panot, while the PCF spokesman Ian Brossat criticized a “new game of musical chairs”.

On the parity side, the government brings together 21 men and 21 women, including its leader Elisabeth Borne, but the latter are over-represented in the positions of Secretaries of State.

Unlike Mr. Abad, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, the Secretary of State for Development who is facing two rape complaints filed by patients in her gynecology practice, has been confirmed in her position.

This reshuffle should make it possible to close what appeared to be a period of uncertainty for the executive after the re-election of Emmanuel Macron more than two and a half months ago.

“We now have a government of action”, “of qualified personalities who are able to unite around them larger majorities than just the presidential majority”, estimated the entourage of the Head of State, praising “a territorial balance”, “sensitivities” and “profiles”.

The first real test is scheduled for July 18 with the examination of the bill on purchasing power, with the ambition of adopting it before the end of July or the beginning of August.

“When it comes to increasing retirement pensions for 15 million retirees, protecting the French against rising energy costs, allowing millions of French people to benefit from a food check to deal with emergencies, I do not see who would oppose it”, advanced Olivier Véran.

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04/07/2022 19:19:15 –         Paris (AFP) –         © 2022 AFP