The hypothesis of an upcoming reshuffle and its consequences: there is like a small wavering at the top of the State. The government is afraid of losing ground on the administration.
It is a classic of periods of possible reshuffling. The telephones heat up, the sms fuse. Journalists write to ministers “So… when is it?” Ministers write to journalists “So… when is it?”
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It’s a time of waiting and rumors when the world, of course, keeps spinning. No more than the current affairs of the country. Except that in the ministries, many do not really know on which foot to dance: should we take initiatives? Will the teams still be there in two weeks to carry out such and such a reform? “Everyone is waiting for the collective to change, but nothing is moving”sighs a chief of staff.
“The temptation” of the administration
Behind all this, there is a well-known fear of the keenest observers of the executive: in the absence of political direction, there is always a moment when the administration tries to regain control. In politics, it is often said that a minister must be “head of his administration”. This is what Elisabeth Borne claims in Le Figaro This morning : “Ministers must have the ability to lead their administration.”
This means making decisions, giving impetus and working with the central administrations which are made up of senior civil servants. They are the ones who run the machinery of the state. But when these same ministers no longer know where they are going, “there is a temptation”. It is a member of the government who confirms it. Temptation not to completely apply what the politician demands, to change the order of priorities, to drag out this or that file.
“Hold your administrations”, regularly urges Emmanuel Macron to his ministers
This phenomenon is not exceptional. Several former ministers, from the right and from the left, all make the same observation: “Un minister, it comes and goes, according to political dynamics while the administration is still there. A former minister of Bercy specifies that “administration is a gaseous body. The more you compress it, the less space it takes up. The more space we give it, the more it disperses.”
To hold an administration, there are not fifteen solutions. We must maintain the pressure on the services, demand results from the prefects… An injunction formulated by Emmanuel Macron himself: “Tget your administrations” is a phrase that comes up regularly in the Council of Ministers.