Emmanuel Macron’s new government team confirms the shift to the right to face a legislature in which it lacks an absolute majority in Parliament and whose clearest sign is the inclusion as Minister of Culture of Rachida Dati, former minister and figure close to Nicolas Sarkozy.
The appointments announced this Thursday have confirmed the departure of the most progressive members of the Government, such as the until now head of Transport, Clément Beaune, who led a threat of rebellion in the middle of last month against the immigration law, which was finally adopted thanks to the support of the right and the extreme right.
This is also the case of the Minister of Labor, Oliver Dussopt, and the head of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak, who leaves her position to Dati.
The reconfiguration has not affected, however, the heavyweights of the Cabinet: the head of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin; Economy, Bruno Le Maire; Justice, Éric Dupont-Moretti; and that of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu.
The Paris Olympics on the horizon
The current Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudea-Castera, also continues in office and will add the Education functions that the new Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, had until now.
In a key year for sports with the prospect of the Paris Olympic Games in the summer, the former tennis player sees her position in the Government reinforced.
In Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna leaves the position after 20 months in office and will be replaced by MEP Stéphane Séjourné, who was the favorite to head the electoral poster of Macron’s party for the European elections in June, in which the extreme right is the favorite of the polls.
The appointment of Séjourné, who has also been the partner of the current prime minister, also marks the departure of the last woman from one of the main ministries, which will all be occupied by men.
A new team to seek parliamentary majorities
The heads of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, will continue in their positions; Agriculture, Marc Fesnau; Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu; and Universities and Research, Sylvie Ratailleau; while Prisca Thevenot will take over from Olivier Véran as spokesperson for the Executive.
The appointments leave a team reduced to 11 ministers led by Gabriel Attal – a 34-year-old former socialist militant who has made a career in Macronism – which has three members who were already portfolio holders with Sarkozy: Darmanin, Le Maire and Dati.
They are joined by Catherine Vautrin, who was vice president of the National Assembly under that same president and who now holds the portfolio of Labor, Health and Solidarity.
An Executive who turns to the right
The turn to the right that materializes with this reconfiguration was to a certain extent expected for a Macronism that, lacking an absolute parliamentary majority, needs the support of other groups to carry out its legislative initiatives.
He has been finding allies more often in the classic right embodied by Los Republicanos (LR), as happened in December to achieve the approval of the new Immigration Law.
Dati belonged to that bloc but after her appointment she was expelled from the party, despite the fact that she had expressed her desire to continue.
“It places itself outside our political family. He is no longer part of The Republicans. We are in the opposition, so we regret the consequences of his election,” stressed the president of LR, Éric Ciotti.
Reminiscences of the Sarkozy era
The Sarkozy imprint of the new Government, and especially the unexpected appointment of Rachida Dati, has been the focus of criticism immediately launched from the opposition.
“The ‘regeneration’ is, therefore, that of the Sarkozist dinosaurs. ‘Civic rearmament’ means appointing a minister investigated for influence peddling and corruption,” the first secretary of the French Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, noted ironically through social networks.
Dati was now leader of the opposition in the Paris City Council led by socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, who even before the appointment became official wished “good luck to the actors in the world of culture given the drinks they will endure.” in statements collected by the BFMTV channel.
The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, has not hesitated to defend his new minister, whom he described as a person “who leaves no one indifferent” and with the ability to fight, in an interview with the TF1 network.
Critics, however, were quick to recall that Dati was charged in 2021 (she has not been tried so far) for taking advantage of abuse of power and influence peddling, and also for passive corruption.
She is accused of receiving 300,000 euros (about $329,181) annually from Renault-Nissan while she was an MEP between 2009 and 2013, for alleged legal advice to this automobile alliance.
By TTU