Within the government team, which is found this Saturday morning for a first working seminar in an annex to Matignon, the pleasantness of the facade must not deceive. Each minister is currently playing elbows. A discreet and bitter brawl takes place behind the scenes to get hold of the major state administrations. Because there is no point in inheriting a department with buzzing wording if it is not accompanied by the officials who go with it.
Barely appointed, the ministers bombard Matignon with notes to make their wishes known. For the most sensitive subjects, arbitrations go back to the Elysée Palace. "The debates are passionate, we do not get bored," smiles an adviser to the executive. Next week, the General Secretariat of the Government (SGG), which reports to the Prime Minister, will make public the decrees of attribution which will set in stone the prerogatives and the themes of each minister. The animal cause, for example, will be entrusted exclusively to the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili - the file was formerly shared with the Ministry of Agriculture. Green people are already claiming victory ...
"Matignon had to punch his fist on the table to avoid blockages"
This war of perimeters creates a few sparks. "There is a huge binz around the Ministry of the Sea," reveals a member of the government. This creation is one of the surprises concocted by Emmanuel Macron and Jean Castex, who wanted to enhance the second maritime domain in the world.
They entrusted to Annick Girardin, who followed the French overseas departments, this full-service ministry, the last trace of which dates back to the Mitterrand era. The elected representative of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon settled with her teams, avenue de Ségur, in Paris. She must now steal from her little comrades a part of the administrations that manage fishing, water, ports, wind turbines… Not enough to delight her colleagues in Agriculture, the Ecological Transition or the Economy, arc- propped up on their playing field… "Matignon had to punch his fist on the table to avoid blockages and to keep things moving forward," said a witness.
PODCAST. From Jean Castex to Eric Dupond-Moretti: behind the scenes of the reshuffle
Jean Castex intends to steer his team at full speed. Quite a symbol: the government seminar will barely last a morning. The climate looks studious, arid limit. The new priorities will be outlined. To restore the president's ecological coat of arms, Housing leaves the sphere of territorial cohesion and passes into the purse of the ecological transition. "I will have all the levers within the same ministry to support the policy of thermal renovation: aid to individuals, the action of energy suppliers or the simplification of the law of condominiums", summarizes Emmanuelle Wargon, promoted to Minister Delegate to Housing in the Castex team.
Some policies clearly lose out
Each reshuffle is accompanied, at the same time, by its share of moves. Here again it is the powerful General Secretariat of the government, the armed wing of the Prime Minister, which is at the helm. The Ministry for Relations with Parliament leaves its premises on rue de Grenelle, in the 7th arrondissement of the capital, to reach the hotel in Clermont, not far away. The offices vacated by Marc Fesneau fall to Amélie de Montchalin, the new Minister of Transformation and Public Service. Responsible for overseeing the implementation of the reforms, the former Ms. Europe of the government approaches Matignon, a few meters away, who will keep an eye on things.
Some policies clearly lose out. Downgraded from Minister of Culture to the Minister for Foreign Trade, Franck Riester leaves the Rue de Valois and is assigned an office in the annex of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rue de la Convention in Paris. Far from the Quai d'Orsay, with its row of majestic salons.
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Place Beauvau, Marlène Schiappa installed her offices on the first floor. Functional accommodation on site has been made available. Until a secretary of state is appointed under the tutelage of the first French cop Gérald Darmanin. It will therefore be necessary to push the walls ... to install everyone. Especially since Jean Castex has decided to increase the number of cabinet collaborators, which Emmanuel Macron had drastically reduced. "The time is not for big ideas but for operational implementation," reports a government adviser. Matignon asked us to recruit already experienced advisers who were immediately operational. ” Management for times of crisis.
