The wait must get longer and longer.
The appointment of the second half of Gabriel Attal's government was still expected this Tuesday as the hypothesis of a return of François Bayrou to replace Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, at the heart of a series of controversies at National Education, is growing. .
Almost a month after the first salvo, the executive must still announce the appointment of a maximum of 15 delegate ministers and secretaries of state who will complement the 14 ministers already in office, led by Gabriel Attal.
As usual, no timing has been confirmed.
“We have never been so close to the outcome,” government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot assured this Tuesday morning.
But an advisor within the executive put things into perspective: “It could be today or tomorrow”.
Several ministers still without incumbents
Many essential sectors (health, housing, transport, etc.) have been lacking a dedicated contact for several weeks.
According to the leader of the Renaissance deputies Sylvain Maillard, the desire of Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal to remain in a government of 30 members maximum is one of the reasons why this reshuffle is dragging on.
“They have difficulty with the perimeters”, he explains, because some want “ministers to represent them”, like the associations for the defense of childhood.
The main question concerns the retention in her post of the Minister of Education and Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, in turmoil since her comments on her children schooled in the very conservative Stanislas private establishment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris and accused by the left to embody “social separatism”.
According to Prisca Thevenot, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who must be heard in the afternoon at the National Assembly, is “fully on task”.
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But, as she faces a new teachers' strike on Tuesday, she "no longer has the confidence of the profession", judges Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, the main secondary education union.
The trade unionist is calling for “a full-time minister” while Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has retained responsibility for sports in this Olympic year.
Enough to fuel the possibility of a return of François Bayrou to rue de Grenelle the day after his acquittal in the European parliamentary assistants affair.
Aged 72, the centrist leader, who held the position 30 years ago (1993-1997 under the Balladur and Juppé governments) excludes nothing.
“There are many ways to serve, I have not eliminated any or chosen any,” he said, adding that he “never shied away from any request for service.”
“Bayrou has a very good chance of entering”
“It is obvious that, while the house is burning, if we need someone to pacify relations between the world of National Education and political power, François Bayrou has the merits to assert,” said one of his supporters, the MoDem deputy Jean-Louis Bourlanges.
According to a Macronist source, “it is said that Bayrou has a very good chance of entering, even if no one or very few people know what is really going on between the president and François Bayrou”.
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While François Bayrou was not in favor of the appointment of Gabriel Attal, the latter denies having differences with Emmanuel Macron on this return.
“I have every interest in having heavyweights in the team,” he pleaded to Le Monde.
Other political issues will be monitored such as the poaching of new recruits from the right, notably in the Senate, after that of Rachida Dati in Culture, the place of the left wing of the macronie, of the other parties of the majority - MoDem and Horizons -, respect for gender parity, etc.
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Reshuffle: “I want action, action, action”, insists Gabriel Attal
In addition to Education, the reshuffle aims to replace ministers who have very broad portfolios such as Catherine Vautrin (Labor, Health and Solidarity) or Christophe Béchu (Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion), who also has Housing and Transportation.
“It shouldn't last,” said Jean-Louis Bourlanges, complaining about “poor Bruno Le Maire, overwhelmed with portfolios”, alone in charge at Bercy.