Michel Barnier shifts into second gear to find his ministerial candidates

The Prime Minister is continuing his discussions to form his government while the Republicans, who formally gave the green light on Wednesday to their participation in the executive, already see themselves in key positions.

He sets a deadline for the first time. “Next week we will appoint a government”declared Michel Barnier. A phrase dropped by the new Prime Minister, Wednesday, September 11, just before meeting parliamentarians from the former presidential majority. A week after his appointment, Michel Barnier seems determined to shift into second gear. But his entourage quickly came to qualify his phrase dropped Tuesday midday: this is not a firm commitment but a “objective” that the Prime Minister sets for himself.

An entourage that assures us: there has not yet been any direct exchange between Michel Barnier and the people considered ministerial candidates. The new Prime Minister will begin personalized exchanges this weekend, either one-on-one or by telephone. Michel Barnier wants renewal, there is no question of playing musical chairs with the outgoing ministers: “It’s a new stage, a new page, and there will be a new government. This is the mission that was entrusted to me and that I accepted, so it will not be a reshuffle.”

Comments made on Tuesday afternoon at the end of a meeting with Horizons parliamentarians and when we dig with those close to Michel Barnier, we understand that he wants to vary the profiles of the ministers. “A Raymond Barre government”we are told: Michel Barnier wants, for the main ministries, experienced personalities, operational in their field. And then, around them, ministers who embody renewal, new faces. This could therefore benefit the outgoing ministers from the right, like a Catherine Vautrin or a Gérald Darmanin who could change portfolio. But, “Nothing is decided“, we hear at Matignon.

Michel Barnier has set himself three criteria. In order of importance, number 1 is the competence of the future minister. Number 2 is territorial balance, i.e. elected representatives from different regions. Number 3 is the political balance resulting from the elections.

There should be representatives from the three parties in the presidential camp – Renaissance, Horizons and Modem – but it will not necessarily be up to the weight of each camp in the ballot boxes. Everything suggests that Les Républicains will have key positions while they have just validated the principle of participating in a Barnier government. “With a Prime Minister from our political family, we will necessarily be in power”assures an elected official close to Michel Barnier. He believes that the Republican right will necessarily “overrepresented” within the government, well above the 8% they represent in the National Assembly.

The Republicans feel they have wings. Michel Barnier’s political family already imagines itself taking the lion’s share in the future government. The Interior, Labor and Regional Planning are the three key areas targeted by the elected representatives of the Republican Right. Laurent Wauquiez himself is very interested in Place Beauvau, several elected representatives indicate.

But when we ask parliamentarians, the list of ambitions grows longer with Justice, National Education and why not Bercy… Everyone, or almost everyone, says “at the disposal of the Prime Minister”. “If Michel [Barnier] If you ask me, of course I will go, knowing full well that it could be a fairly short fixed-term contract, but at some point you have to be logical”says a visibly frustrated elected official after 12 years of virtual absence of the right in government.