uncertainty reigns within the government over a reshuffle

After a week of doubts and questions with the vote on the immigration law, the government is on vacation. Some members of the executive wonder if they will still be part of it at the start of the school year, while the idea of ​​a reshuffle at the beginning of 2024 is gaining ground.

How long will they still be in place? It’s a week’s break for the government, after the painful sequence surrounding the immigration bill. Elisabeth Borne’s team is on vacation, see you in eight days around the table of the Council of Ministers, without anyone knowing what to expect next. The prospect of a reshuffle is agitating the macronie, so some are wondering how long they will remain in government and, if so, in what position.

Many were hoping for vacation, time to let the storm pass. But, in January 2024, how will they be eaten? Once again in the deserted corridors of ministries, we navigate by sight. “I’m totally lost.”slips for example a government advisor to franceinfo.

Ministers disappointed by “crackling nervously”

After the vote on the immigration bill, Aurélien Rousseau, the Minister of Health, resigned. Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, appointed interim to replace him, is splashed by a gift affair. At the time of the vote on the compromise on immigration, half a dozen ministers, steeped in doubt, disappointed the president by “crackling nervously”.

Interviewed on France 5, Emmanuel Macron painted the portrait of the minister, in his eyes, perfect. His example is Gabriel Attal, who has been with him from the start, capable of emerging, of making an impression, of rising above the ranks. In the ranks, most of his colleagues know that they do not play in the same division. If the boss decides he wants a tighter government, their future is not assured.

The reshuffle therefore seems to be on everyone’s minds. When François Bayrou, the lifelong advisor, speaks of the need for new impetus and pleads for a “renewal” in the Sunday newspapera minister speaks of the need to complete a complicated first phase of the five-year term, after the pension reform and the immigration text. “It’s impossible to continue as if nothing had happened”explains another, after the turbulence of the vote in the Assembly. “The rejection motion marked the end of the strategy of parliamentary cabotage, where we move forward piecemeal”judges a third.

Everyone will scrutinize Emmanuel Macron’s wishes

Everyone agrees that we need to breathe new life, and wonder about the Prime Minister’s ability to embody it. “No political crisis”assured Élisabeth Borne last week. “With a big ostrich side”notes a government advisor. “Except she doesn’t have a misplaced ego, she’s willing to let go of her pride, and it won’t be easy to find such a resilient and tough replacement.”recalls one of his lawyers within the government.

Sunday evening, everyone will scrutinize the president’s wishes. Emmanuel Macron has already said that he wanted to offer France new challenges and a new course, but in continuity around his motto “Liberate, protect, unite”, in the standard since spring 2018, before all the crises (“yellow vests”, Covid-19, Ukraine, relative majority). The president says he wants to continue the fight for three and a half years. He will quickly have to say with whom.