Ministerial candidates for municipal elections, a puzzle that poisons the government

Are municipal governments creating a maze in government? For the ministers who decided to be candidates, they are in any case turning to the general puzzle. With several cases in the process of electrifying the discussions at the heights of power.

This is particularly the case around the interminable soap opera in Biarritz where two members of the government have decided to confront each other: the Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume who wants to launch out against the list of outgoing mayor Michel Veunac (MoDem) where appears… the secretary of state Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. "We must decide, and quickly," pleads Edouard Philippe for weeks, while Emmanuel Macron would prefer to wait a few more days ... perhaps scalded by his failed mediation attempt in Paris between Benjamin Griveaux and Cédric Villani.

Wait until the end of the week, once the result of a local survey ordered by the daily Sud-Ouest? According to our information, the case could even be folded before, in this case as early as Wednesday evening during the executive office of En Marche "where the Biarritz case will be settled", we are told. LREM should on this occasion support the Veunac list, due to national agreements with the partner MoDem. "We have already invested 18 out of 21 MoDem cities, we will act in coherence for the others", justifies the staff of the presidential party. This would open up a possible dissent from Guillaume - who had a conversation on the phone with Macron on Monday evening - and who might be leaving government ...

Case by case for the beaten

Another minister is in the spotlight in recent days: Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of Accounts and Public Action, officially candidate for Tourcoing. In the Voix du Nord on Monday, he said that if he won, he would leave government. Why such an eagerness for the one who is one of the most prominent ministers of Macronie? "He had no choice but to say that. Tourcoing is a city of 100,000 inhabitants, where the RN will be high and the left is still very resistant. He therefore had to send a strong message to the inhabitants about his commitment, ”confides a relative.

Others analyze this statement as a way to put pressure on Macron in the event of a post-municipal reshuffle. “Gérald has exhausted the charms of his ministry. He never hid his ambition to get a big ministry. If Macron wants to keep it, he will have to take out the heavy artillery. Otherwise he will return to Tourcoing, ”decrypts a deputy.

There remains a major question. If the general rule is not to combine a ministry and the management of a local executive, what about the ministers beaten at the municipal level? Maintained in government or not? "There is no public rule," defends Matignon. In short, case by case. As is the case of this minister who says "having dealt with the president and the Prime Minister to stay in government in the event of defeat". "In any case, there is no point in having a rule in good and due form. Otherwise, it will be terrible for some, "argues a minister, worried that the votes of March 15 and 22 will turn into an anti-Macron referendum if necessary in the cities where the ministers will be hired.