The choice

Francois Bayrou appointed French prime minister. Macron: 'Now dialogue for stability'

The MoDem leader was greeted with scepticism by the Socialists and other left-wing parties. France Insoumise announces a motion of censure

13 December 2024Aggiornato il 13 dicembre 2024 alle ore 18.00

Francia, Francois Bayrou nominato premier dall'Eliseo

5' min read

It was an uncertain outcome until the last moment. François Bayrou was always the favoured candidate in this government crisis, but on the day of his nomination things seemed to have become complicated. Received at the Elysée Palace at 8.30 a.m., he left through a side door after an hour and three quarters. In the meantime, reports leaked out of a 'tense' meeting in which President Emmanuel Macron allegedly proposed to the leader of the Mouvement Dèmocrate (MoDem) to be number two behind former Socialist (and iron Macronian) Roland Lescure, receiving a refusal and the proposal to appoint Bernard Cazeneuve instead. One of the seven presidential planes, departing from Paris, had been reported to be returning from Cherbourg, Cazeneuve's own town...
Then, the surprise. Bayrou was appointed prime minister. Apparently, he had threatened to withdraw his political formation, strong with 33 deputies, from the coalition that would actively support the government if Lescure was chosen. Macron had already excluded Cazeneuve instead.

"Dialogue to find the conditions for stability"

Bayrou will now have to work out how much of the non-censure understanding closed by the president with the parties of the republican arc (the Macronians and his allies, the socialists, the ecologists, the communists and the Gaullists républicains) will be able to survive and which parties will be able to create a real government coalition. It is possible that the formation of the team could take several days. Both the republican right and the left parties demanded a prime minister chosen from their own ranks. Bayrou, the Elysée explained, 'has as his mission to dialogue with all political parties', with the exclusion of the Rassemblement national and France insoumise, to 'find the conditions for stability and action'.

The "necessary reconciliation"

'Everyone understands the difficulty of the task,' Bayrou commented immediately after the appointment, 'I also think everyone realises that we need to find a path that unites instead of divides. I think reconciliation is necessary'. A concept, this, repeated at the handover at Palais Matignon, when - in front of his predecessor Michel Barnier - he referred back to Emmanuel Macron's initial inspiration, according to which 'one can no longer find oneself facing a destiny in which one is no longer master and in which there was no longer any possibility of development'. He referred to his model, Henry IV, born on 13 December (actually before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar) as his government, to emphasise the importance of 'getting out of these stupid wars, these secondary wars' between political forces

Francia: la missione impossibile di Bayrou

The Gaullists: conditional support for the project

Sceptical potential allies, apart from the Macronian camp. Amongst the Républicains, only Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region, expressed her congratulations, but the party leadership conditioned its support for Bayrou's 'project'; not an easy decision, moreover, since the leader of the Assemblée Laurent Wauquiez invited everyone to speak 'with one voice'.

Ecologists: 'Poor France'

The first secretary of the Communist Party (PCF), Fabien Roussel, immediately commented: 'This is bad news'. However, he did not rule out external support: he demanded that Bayrou 'commit himself not to apply Article 49.3' of the constitution, which allows the government, in certain cases, to pass a law without a parliamentary vote. 'This is how he will be able to avoid facing censure,' he added. Even scornful was the reaction of the ecologists: 'This is bad boulevard theatre,' wrote the secretary Marine Tondelier, who concluded: 'Poor France'. He then promised censure in case he retains as Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, the Gaullist with positions very close to those of the Lepenists who will be immediately received by Bayrou.

The socialists' no

The Socialists 'will not participate in the government', the Ps leadership let it be known, which nevertheless asked for an interview with Bayrou. "By choosing a new prime minister who has come out of his own camp, Emmanuel Macron is taking responsibility for aggravating the political and democratic crisis. The Socialists will not participate and will remain in opposition,' a statement explained. The possibility of a non-censure remains standing, but only if there is a commitment not to use Article 49.3 to approve the budget.

The perplexities of the left

For the political forces of the Nouveau Front Populaire, it would have been important to be able to argue in front of the electorate that they had chosen to participate in, or at least not to obstruct, the new government: in this sense, the choice of a former socialist such as Lescure or Cazeneuve, programmatically close and politically distant enough not to be too affected by any unpopular choices or failure, was considered more likely or more opportune.

Mélenchon: "We are off to a good start..."

The extreme wings of parliament expressed their opposition, but in different ways. Manuel Bompard, spokesman for France Insoumise, announced a motion of censure: "After losing all the elections, Macron installs his first and last supporter in Matignon". "We're off to a good start...," was meanwhile the lapidary comment of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who points to Macron's resignation.

Le Pen tries to come out of isolation

Marine Le Pen, faced with the consequences of her choice to bring down the government, which risks isolating her again politically (though not necessarily electorally), is trying to accredit herself again as an interlocutor: 'We ask him to do what his predecessor did not want to do,' she wrote on X. 'Listen to the oppositions in order to build a reasonable and thought-out budget. Any other policy,' he added, 'would only be a continuation of Macronism, rejected twice by the ballot box, and can only lead to impasse and defeat'. He ruled out, as did his former Gaullist ally Eric Ciotti, an a priori censure.

A Christian Democrat looking to the right

Bayrou, 73, is far from the left to which he should now look to secure more votes, or at least less hostility, than his predecessor Michel Barnier. Although he has said in recent days that dividing the different parties to his right and left 'there are only nuances'. He comes from the centre-right: a practising Catholic and bearer of a Christian democratic vision of politics, the mayor of Pau has always militated in political formations - often founded by him - that upheld Christian values. He has long collaborated with the neo-Gaullist parties - he was Minister of National Education with Édouard Balladur and Alain Juppé - but relations with the right have not always been happy. His support for the socialist Ségoléne Royal, in the 2007 presidential election won by the Gaullist Nicolas Sarkozy, has not been forgotten.

Francia, Bayrou a Matignon per il passaggio di potere

The investigation and acquittal

A Macron ally since the first government, he was for just over a month Minister of Justice in the Philippe government. A judicial investigation - parallel to the one involving the Rassemblement national of Marine Le Pen - alleged a misuse of EU funds to pay party officials not active on European issues. After six years of investigation and a trial, Bayrou was acquitted (but the other defendants were convicted).

The Prime Minister of Submission

The character Bayrou has already been prime minister, but in a novel. In Subjugation, by Michel Houellebecq, he leads the government chosen by France's first Muslim president, Mohammed Ben Abbes, who proceeds with the Islamisation of the country.

Riccardo SorrentinoRedattore
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Luogo: Milano
Lingue parlate: Italiano, francese, inglese
Argomenti: Economia internazionale, politica monetaria, dati macroeconomici, Francia
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