Government of Gabriel Attal: what you need to know

2024-01-12 11:12:12

Published on Jan 9, 2024 at 6:27 p.m.Updated Jan 12, 2024 at 12:12

Overview of what you need to know regarding the new Prime Minister, his roadmap and the first members of his government. Find the decryptions from the editorial staff of “Echos”.

Gabriel Attal became Emmanuel Macron’s fourth Prime Minister on January 9, 2024, following Edouard Philippe, Jean Castex and Elisabeth Borne.

A pure politician, champion of communication, thirty years old and above all popular: by appointing Gabriel Attal to Matignon, Emmanuel Macron is betting on youth and dynamism, a recipe for his own success, to try to arm his five-year term with a view to the European elections and perhaps to outline the post-2027 period.

The first members of his government – full ministers and some delegate ministers – were announced on January 11. Other delegate ministers and state secretaries will be announced later.

Several heavyweights, including Bruno Le Maire in the Economy and Gérald Darmanin in the Interior, were reappointed within a largely right-wing government whose big surprise is the arrival of the Sarkozy Rachida Dati in Culture.

Another entry: Catherine Vautrin, formerly with the Republicans and whom the president had already wanted to appoint as Prime Minister in 2022 before giving it up, inherits a vast portfolio of Labor, Health and Solidarity.

Overview of what you need to know regarding the new Prime Minister, his roadmap and his government:

Gabriel Attal, Prime Minister:

Gabriel Attal, January 9, 2024, during the transfer of power to Matignon.Jeanne Accorsini/SIPA

Continuing a dazzling career, government spokesperson, Minister of the Budget then of National Education, Gabriel Attal became at 34 the youngest Prime Minister in the history of the Fifth Republic.

Emmanuel Macron, who is counting on him to give new impetus to a five-year term in perpetual search of breathing space, said he was “counting” on his “energy” to implement the “rearmament and regeneration project” of the country that he announced during his greetings to the French. After the divisions which agitated the macronie on the law on immigration, and the criticisms on a right-wing drift, he asked him to be “in fidelity to the spirit of 2017: surpassing and audacity”.

Note that like Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal is also responsible for ecological and energy planning

The government :

Gabriel Attal’s first task is to form a new government under the sign of “rearmament” praised by Emmanuel Macron during his New Year’s greetings: “industrial, economic, European rearmament” but also “civic”, particularly around the vast construction site. of the school that Gabriel Attal has carried since the summer by initiating numerous major reforms.

The casting is taking shape. Emmanuel Macron and his new Prime Minister opted for a two-stage announcement. If a first salvo concerning full ministers and ministers delegated to the Prime Minister was revealed on January 11, the complete list with other ministers delegates and secretaries of state will not be known until later.

Most of the key ministers are reappointed, from Bruno Le Maire to Gérald Darmanin, including Sébastien Lecornu and Eric Dupond-Moretti. Just like, on the allied side, Marc Fesneau for Modem, and Christophe Béchu for Edouard Philippe’s Horizons party.

All government positions are occupied by men, even if numerical parity is respected.

The big surprise is the return of Rachida Dati, Nicolas Sarkozy’s former Minister of Justice. Another new feature: Catherine Vautrin, from the right, whom the president had already wanted to appoint as Prime Minister in 2022 before giving it up.

Several figures from the left (Olivier Véran, Olivier Dussopt, etc.) are excluded, or in any case absent from this first salvo of ministers.

Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty

Bruno Le Maire once once more emerges reinforced by the reshuffle, continuing to reign over a Bercy with prerogatives which should be further extended. He is the record holder for longevity at the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance with his six years and almost eight months without interruption – only Valéry Giscard d’Estaing has done better with almost nine years, but spread over two distinct periods at the beginning of the Fifth Republic.

Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories

Gérald Darmanin retains the role of the Interior where he was appointed in July 2020, following three years at the Ministry of Action and Public Accounts

Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity

In 2022, Catherine Vautrin has long been in the running to be Prime Minister. Eighteen months later, this Sarkozyst, from the “liberal and social” right, inherits an expanded Ministry of Labor, Health and Solidarity. In particular, she was barred from Matignon for having participated in the mobilization once morest the law authorizing same-sex marriage.

Previously, she held several government positions under the presidency of Jacques Chirac: Secretary of State for Integration (2004), for the Elderly (2004-2005), then Minister Delegate for Social Cohesion (2005-2007).

Amélie Oudéa Castera, Minister of National Education, Youth, Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, loyal to Macron – she is in the same class as the President of the Republic – is entrusted in addition to Sports six and a half months before the Paris Olympic Games, responsibility for National Education, priority displayed by the executive, but also the Youth portfolio.

Before becoming a minister, she was general director of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), following having been at Axa and Carrefour, a branch into the private sector following a stint at the Court of Auditors.

Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty

Marc Fesneau was confirmed as Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, where he was appointed in May 2022.

This close friend of François Bayrou, who should be his future successor at the head of Modem, was Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament and Citizen Participation in Macron’s first five-year term.

Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture

A new take on the right for Emmanuel Macron: pugnacious but divisive, symbol of diversity, the Sarkozyist Rachida Dati, mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris and former Minister of Justice, was appointed Minister of Culture, two years before the municipal elections in which she aims to conquer Paris.

Gabriel Attal highlighted the “presumption of innocence”, while she has been indicted since July 2021 for “corruption” and “passive influence peddling by a person invested with a public elective mandate” in the investigation on contracts entered into by a subsidiary of Renault-Nissan, when Carlos Ghosn was its CEO. She denies any irregularity. The prosecution must soon make its requisitions before the investigating judge responsible for this case, open since 2019, orders or not a trial before the Paris criminal court.

Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces

After seeing his name circulated for Matignon, Sébastien Lecornu retains the Army portfolio, where this former LR was appointed in May 2022.

Since 2017 and the advent of macronia, this close friend of Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin has continued his discreet rise: becoming Secretary of State to the Minister of Ecological Transition, under Nicolas Hulot, in June 2017, he had taken the stripe of Minister responsible for Territorial Communities in October 2018, then that of Minister for Overseas Territories in July 2020.

Eric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justice

Eric Dupond-Moretti, who was acquitted in November 2023 in his trial for illegal taking of interests, was returned to the Ministry of Justice where this tenor of the bar had been appointed in July 2020.

Stéphane Séjourné, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs

The appointment of Stéphane Séjourné as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs in place of Catherine Colonna is also a surprise. This lightning promotion for this Emmanuel Macron faithful, whom he has worked with since the current President of the Republic’s visit to Bercy (2014-2016), might well reshuffle the cards for the European elections. , elected MEP in 2019, Stéphane Séjourné was earmarked to lead the campaign for these elections on behalf of the majority. He had, on several occasions, expressed his desire to do so, even if his appointment was not official.

Christophe Béchu, Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion

After a brief stint as Minister Delegate in charge of Territorial Communities, Christophe Béchu has been in the strategic position of Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion since July 2022, where he was reappointed.

Close to Edouard Philippe, the mayor of Angers embodies, like the former Prime Minister, the Macron-compatible right-wing movement but determined to make the specific voice of local elected officials heard.

Sylvie Retailleau, Minister of Higher Education and Research

Physicist Sylvie Retailleau was reappointed Minister of Higher Education and Research. This political novice, who took her first steps within a government in May 2022, headed the prestigious Paris-Saclay University.

· Ministers delegated to the Prime Minister:

Prisca Thevenot, responsible for Democratic Renewal, government spokesperson

Prisca Thevenot, appointed Minister Delegate for Democratic Renewal and government spokesperson, rose to prominence following six months at the State Secretariat for Youth where, among other things, she had to put into music the universal national service (SNU). This “walker” from the start, accustomed to the sets of continuous news channels, succeeds Olivier Véran in a position with high media exposure, in particular to report on the Council of Ministers and answer all-round questions from the press.

Marie Lebec, responsible for Relations with Parliament

Marie Lebec, appointed Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament, is a Macronist from the start, who was able to impose herself in the Assembly thanks to her outspokenness and her political skill. Taking over from Franck Riester, she will, like him, have to deal with the difficulties of a National Assembly where the presidential camp does not have an absolute majority.

Coming from civil society – she was then a consultant at Euralia, a public relations firm – the young woman joined En Marche! at its creation, in April 2016. Graduate of Sciences Po Bordeaux, fervent Sarkozyist in 2007 and 2012 but parliamentary attaché to a PS deputy between 2014 and 2016, she was elected deputy at the age of 26 in the 4th constituency of Yvelines, a historically right-wing territory.

Aurore Bergé, responsible for Equality between women and men and the fight once morest discrimination

A divisive Macronist from the right, the former head of the Renaissance deputies Aurore Bergé had fought for a long time to land a position in the government. Appointed in July 2023 Minister of Solidarity and Families, she moved to Gender Equality in the Attal government.

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