Member of the European Parliament and Member of the National Assembly, Minister of National Education then of Justice, three times presidential candidates… François Bayrou has an impressive political CV. What makes him a Prime Minister in the event of a reshuffle? The president of the Modem chose the card of honesty.
He would have “loved” to be prime minister, but currently considers himself “out of the game” due to an upcoming trial in mid-October, he told the RTL-Le Figaro-LCI Grand Jury on Sunday. “I am not in this game today because we are going to have a totally unfounded trial in the fall,” said Mr. Bayrou when asked about his possible desire to replace Élisabeth Borne at Matignon.
“If the question is ‘Would you have liked to do that?’, I would have loved to do that. I am concerned enough about the situation in the country to tell you that, yes, I would have liked to take on this role […] but I am out of the game,” he continued. The current High Commissioner for Planning will be tried, from October 16, with ten other executives of the UDF and the MoDem, for complicity in the embezzlement of European public funds committed between June 2005 and January 2017. They are suspected of having used European funds to hire parliamentary assistants who would in fact have worked, at least partially, for the party.
As a reshuffle appears to be looming, Bayrou conceded there was “possible progress” to be made in the government team. “I am for a strong president, a strong government and a strong parliament,” he summed up. “I am for the Prime Minister to have autonomy from the President of the Republic”, as well as a “deep understanding” with the Head of State, he continued.
But also “political weight” in “he or she who rises to the podium in circumstances as difficult as those we know today with an absence of a majority”, he added, referring to Emmanuel Macron the care to decide whether Ms. Borne meets these criteria. As he had already expressed this week, Mr. Bayrou said he was “opposed to the turn to the right as well as to the left”, while part of the macronist camp is pushing in favor of an agreement with Les Républicains.
“I find it welcome that there is a Republican right trying to rebuild itself” and “appreciable the work that is done on ideas” by the boss of LR Éric Ciotti, developed Mr. Bayrou. “But the idea that LR, elected in the opposition, would abandon its positions to enter the majority, that’s an idea I don’t believe in,” he argued. Generally, “you can make deals if you’re solid on your foundation, if everyone knows who you are, where you’re going, and if you don’t want to be pushed to one side or the other.” another, “said this pillar of the majority.