While the appointment of the second part of the Attal government was still awaited on Thursday, February 8 after François Bayrou refused to be part of it, the president of the MoDem assured Franceinfo that his party remained “a full member of the majority who wants to rebuild the country.” According to him, “the country needs more political understanding of what is happening at the grassroots and less managerial technocracy.”
“I have never renounced any of the duties that are mine,” added Mr. Macron’s historic ally, very critical of his new prime minister and his government, judging that “the issue of 2027 is precisely where we manage to reconcile France which fights at the bottom with France which decides at the top”. Asked about the argument of a lack of “deep agreement” that he put forward on Wednesday to Agence France-Presse (AFP) to justify his refusal to enter the government, Mr. Bayrou insisted on the fact that he was talking about “educational policy.”
Saying he disagreed with “the background music”, according to which “teachers do not work enough”, he said that national education could not “recover in a managerial climate”. Asked whether his disagreement applied to the entire policy, the mayor of Pau said: “I hope not. » But he denounced “a drift”. “The time has come to put things right, to remember why we are here,” insisted the man who readily poses as a wise man, in his position as High Commissioner for Planning.
He notably mentioned “the multiplication of indications according to which we are not going to balance the crisis, we are not going to stop it, but we are acting as if it did not exist.” “My support cannot be bargained on condition that the concern that a very large number of French people feel, which is reflected in all the polls, is heard,” added Mr. Bayrou.
Gabriel Attal at the Elysée Thursday morning
François Bayrou’s decision is causing turmoil within his own party: one of the main figures of the MoDem, the deputy Jean-Louis Bourlanges, accused him of “dangerously weakening” the majority, while “discrediting” the party. On X, Mr. Bourlanges affirmed that the boss of MoDem had refused to join the Attal government “without any consultation”. “If we were not really satisfied with the place offered to us, it would have been possible to practice support without participation,” criticized the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, regretting that the MoDem found itself in the position “ inverse”, i.e. “participation without support”.
The thunderous exit of François Bayrou removed from the equation of the reshuffle the significant unknown who was invited there on Monday, and who delayed the outcome. The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, was at the Elysée Thursday morning to speak with Emmanuel Macron, noted an AFP journalist. The announcement of the list of the fifteen personalities called to complete the fourteen ministers already appointed is expected at midday, the president’s entourage confirmed early in the morning. But by emphasizing his political differences, the Béarnais has also opened up new uncertainties about the balance of this complex casting.
“Welcome to MoDem in opposition”
In national education, where Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, entangled in a series of controversies, made a failed entry, the name that holds the rope is that of Nicole Belloubet, minister of justice from 2017 to 2020, during the first five-year term by Emmanuel Macron. In addition to her government experience, Ms. Belloubet, aged 68 and from the Socialist Party, was notably rector of the academies of Limoges and Toulouse, between 1997 and 2005, before resigning denouncing the job cuts at the time.
Despite the assurance of the MoDem remaining in the majority, the oppositions smelled the scent of political crisis. “An increasingly relative majority…! Welcome to MoDem in opposition,” quipped the president of the socialist group in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud. “As a result, if Bayrou wants to be coherent, all MoDem ministers must leave the government,” responded LR deputy Pierre-Henri Dumont.
Faced with the puzzle of this additional list, which must respect political and territorial balances as well as gender parity, Mr. Attal will travel to Pas-de-Calais on Thursday to visit flood victims, to whom he had reserved his first trip and promised to come back. The Prime Minister will be accompanied by the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, in particular to “express his support for the elected officials, residents and traders affected”, and “welcome the action” of the emergency services and elected officials.
