An important meeting takes place Friday, November 19 in Matignon. It is chaired by the Prime Minister himself, Jean Castex. The list of guests is eloquent: the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and his deputy minister, Marlène Schiappa, the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupont-Moretti, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, that of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer. During this meeting, there will also be the Minister of Labor, that of Territorial Cohesion, that of the City, that of Sports, that of Youth, and the government spokesperson Gabriel Attal. Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, will be represented by his chief of staff, therefore at a high level.
In total: eleven ministers and not the least invited for an “interministerial meeting” devoted to the law reinforcing respect for the principles of the Republic, or the law of separatism. Because if the text was voted more than three months ago, which is played out on Friday, it is a first assessment. Jean Castex wants to know if the law is well applied, well implemented, how, and where is it blocking. “He wants to make sure that the stewardship follows”, summarizes an advisor.
What applies to separatism applies to other texts, such as the recovery plan. A minister testifies: “The Prime Minister is intractable in these follow-up meetings.” Difficult to tell him nonsense, because Jean Castex goes into detail. “He comes with his shopping list, says a participant. The feedback from elected officials, the difficulties we talked to him about when traveling. “ Letters, sometimes, that the French send him to Matignon to say “you are deploying such and such a device, but it does not work with me.”
To challenge his ministers, Jean Castex sometimes goes so far as to dig into his personal sensors, as recently in a meeting devoted to the timber industry, where he asked the minister in charge why a member of his own family could not find boards in DIY stores in the Pyrénées-Orientales. There is almost a side “Superintendent” in the Jean Castex method. With, in the role of principal, Emmanuel Macron. “Because behind, there is the pressure of the great chief who asks where it is, how the reform is applied in the last kilometer”, confirms a member of the government.
In the coming months, the Prime Minister will be less and less visible because the light will be on the candidate president. But its mission remains important: it must concretize the balance sheet. Make sure that the oppositions do not find dust when lifting the mat.