They were appointed at the same time spokespersons for the presidential party, in November 2020. Before each inheriting a constituency in Hauts-de-Seine, in the legislative elections of June 2022, then being re-elected on July 7, after the dissolution of the National Assembly. In the meantime, Prisca Thévenot entered the government in July 2023, to be successively Secretary of State for Youth in Élisabeth Borne’s team, then spokesperson for Gabriel Attal’s government.
This Monday afternoon, the minister, who resigned on July 16, handed over the reins to Maud Bregeon, who has become spokesperson for Michel Barnier’s government. An unprecedented transfer of power between the two parliamentarians from Hauts-de-Seine, sometimes presented as “enemy sisters”, with similar backgrounds but each embodying two currents within the Macronie.
The fact remains that they perpetuate the tradition, confirming the department as an essential land of ministers. After Gabriel Attal, Sophie Cluzel, Adrien Taquet, Roxana Maracineanu since 2017, and before that, Charles Pasqua, Patrick Devedjian, André Santini, Roger Karoutchi, Patrick Ollier, Frédéric Lefebvre, Rama Yade… and of course, Nicolas Sarkozy.
“It’s a leap into the unknown”
“You can count on us there, in the National Assembly, just as I know we can count on you here. But you don’t really need advice because you are the right person, at the right time and in the right place,” declared the MP for the 8th constituency, Prisca Thévenot, on Monday at noon, emphasizing that a “new era, that of the coalition” was beginning.
“It’s a mixture of emotion, pride and responsibility,” Maud Bregeon replied, emphasizing their “shared history.” “It’s a leap into the unknown,” the new voice of the government then told us. “You realize how much your life has changed when your first meeting of the day is a breakfast with the Prime Minister, the second, a transfer of power and the third, a Council of Ministers.”
Maud Bregeon, 33, is not the only one whose daily life will change. Her substitute, Christophe Mongardien, 61, an opposition municipal councillor from Antony, will enter the National Assembly in a month, after the regulatory waiting period.
