The vacant spot was empty. Amelie de Montchalin, the former Minister of Ecological Transformation, was expelled from the government Monday July 4, after she lost the legislative elections in Essonne, Sunday June 19, to Jerome Guedj, the socialist candidate for Nupes. Christophe Bechu will replace him. An ex-LR secretary general of Horizons, now mayor of Angers, and a supporter on the right side of Emmanuel Macron, who counts.
Christophe Bechu is among these ministerial politicians. He has held positions in every sphere of politics since leaving Sciences Po Paris. He began his career at 21 as a municipal councilor for Avrille in the suburbs Angers. He was the president of Maine-et-Loire from 2004 to 2014. After failing in 2008, he became mayor of Angers in 2014. This was the end of 37 years of socialist mandate.
From 2011 to 2017, the new Minister for Ecological Transformation also served as senator. He was also a member of the European Parliament between 2009 and 2011. He was a former LR and quickly approached Emmanuel Macron, who made him president of the French Infrastructure Financing Agency in 2018.
The mayor of Angers has been a strong supporter of Emmanuel Macron. He is one of his ex-Republicans who has joined the current President. Christophe Bechu resigned from Les Republicains in 2017, shortly after Laurent Wauquiez arrived at the head right-wing party’s top.
Christophe Bechu, along with thirty elected representatives from his party, signs a platform in support of Emmanuel Macron after the LR disaster in the 2019 European Elections. The initiative is called “The Republic of Mayors”, and it is the foundation of the party founded in 2021 by Edouard Philippe: Horizons. Christophe Bechu, now secretary general of the party which is part of the coalition led by the president, took office on October 9, 2021. He was already a member the the first Borne government and until then was Minister Delegate responsible for Local Authorities under dual supervision by Gerald Darmanin and Amelie de Montchalin.
Christophe Bechu’s main attraction has been soft mobility since his arrival at the Ministry of Ecological Transition. He claims to have made Angers the “most successful smart city” in France. Edouard Philippe chose Angevin to present the National Cycling Plan in September 2018.
Is this enough to be considered one of the new causes for this Macronist quinquennium’s new cause? Because his views on pesticides are akin to his skin. He was a Maine-et-Loire senator at the time and voted against the 2015 ban on bee-killing necropinoids (like the whole Les Republicains group including Edouard Philippe).
Environmental activists were not happy with the announcement of Bechu’s appointment Monday morning. “One thing is certain: I have never met Christophe Bechu in the slightest environmental struggle,” Sandrine Rousseau, deputy EELV on Twitter
Jean-Francois Julliard is the director general at Greenpeace. He believes that Christophe Bechu’s selection “is symptomatic for the government’s lack of vision regarding environmental issues” and regrets that the Minister of Ecological Transformation has “almost never taken position on national or global climate or environmental issues”.
Christophe Bechu was the Angevin’s mayor in 2016. He became embroiled in a scandal. At his request, posters of prevention against HIV that depict homosexual couples were removed “around schools” as well as “on the routes for school buses”. His defense? He had stated that he did not intend to stop any communication campaign.
It is no surprise that Christiane Taubira discovered three years ago that the Angevin had strongly opposed marriages for all. “Caring for the most vulnerable is a more important principle than any other. He then stated in the Senate that he believed that the Senate had a trick with its principles.
