It is a sequence that crystallizes a system of symbols for the two protagonists, the departing and the new minister. The media interest and the scripting of the journalistic story can even transform it into a founding event. You have to send the right messages, the right image, the right positioning and try, why not, to make history. Between Jean Castex and Elisabeth Borne, for example, the emotion was there.
franceinfo: what part did the two prime ministers play? can you summarize the communication intentions of each?
Gaspard Gantzer: There was an intention on the form and on the bottom. On the form, both wanted to show their character, Jean Castex her southern and friendly good humor and for Elisabeth Borne her emotion and the fact that she was sensitive to the fact of being the second woman to arrive at Matignon. And then on the merits, a defense of his balance sheet by a prime minister who chooses the day and time of his departure and when Elisabeth Borne, she wanted to print her style, rigorous, efficient and already in action.
There is always for those who leave the desire to mark their passage, it is sometimes the last opportunity to leave a trace in political history. And a posteriori, there may be surprises like when Arnaud Montebourg handed over to Emmanuel Macron in August 2014 at the Ministry of the Economy. A very theatrical outing for the one who had just blown up the Valls government. That morning, Arnaud Montebourg had even declared: “You have to know how to leave the stage when you no longer know how to play comedy any longer” and… he didn’t know that he was passing the baton to the future President of the Republic!
How is a transfer of power prepared? Tell us how the work is organized upstream.
Much depends on the administrative services of certain ministries which are often used to seeing certain ministers pass and recross, it is moreover sometimes very painful for the ministers and their entourage because they see people busying themselves as if they were going to have to prepare a move, without yet knowing the tenor of the presidential decision. And then there is the role of counselors who most quickly pick up their things and try to send signals through applause, shouts, cheers to show their joy at having served or arriving in the ministry. , and during this time we slip in CVs to prepare for the future.
Is the Minister precisely preparing with these advisers the words, the sentences that he or she will pronounce during the transfer of power?
Yes of course, knowing that it is often the most personal speech both for the departing and for the newcomer and that it is often a very short speech, from which we will retain two or three sentences but above all an emotion, a general atmosphere .
The sustained pace of the transfers of power also made up the first sequence of communication for a new government that was set up. If each handover is unique, the whole sets the tone and color of the executive. For Emmanuel Macron, it is also an opportunity to send the nation the first chapter of his roadmap and his first message to the French.