Emmanuel Macron received his Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, on Sunday January 7, in the early evening, to discuss “important issues”, the Elysée confirmed to Le Monde after information revealed by BFM-TV. If the presidency notably highlighted “the bad weather in Pas-de-Calais and the arrival of the cold wave” to justify this Sunday tête-à-tête, the beginnings of the establishment of a new architecture government are taking shape. “Everything is possible… including nothing,” summarizes a close friend of Emmanuel Macron to Agence France-Presse (AFP), at a time when the president is talking about the recomposition of his team after having widely consulted this week, from Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, to Edouard Philippe, via François Bayrou.
The latter estimated on Sunday that a “change” was “necessary”: “We have reached the end of a sequence with difficult texts: there is inevitably a new period opening,” argued on BFM- TV this close to Emmanuel Macron, adding to think “that it is legitimate that there is renewal”.
“The challenge today is to rebuild trust which has, unfortunately, disintegrated between the French and the State, between the French themselves and even, if I dare say, between the French and France”, he continued, pleading for “consistency” with “the project that led Emmanuel Macron when he was elected President of the Republic”, “renewal” and “refoundation”. “The republican idea is weakened, the idea of the State is weakened: we need to believe in it again. »
If the fate of Elisabeth Borne in Matignon is not sealed, the name of the former Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, a historic “walker” who accompanied Emmanuel Macron’s presidential adventure from its earliest days , circulates insistently for his succession. “He is someone very estimable and in tune with this idea,” judged the centrist leader. “I am attached to this unprecedented and totally unforeseen renewal which, in 2017, brought down the two clans which had held power through an absolute monopoly for fifty years. »
Terminal “not condemned”, according to a close friend of Macron
On the other hand, regarding Sébastien Lecornu, another contender to succeed Elisabeth Borne from the Republicans and currently at the head of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, François Bayrou seemed more reserved, emphasizing the need for “deep support from the future leader of the government to this idea that, no, we are not at the end of the cycle” and “no, we are not in the continuation of the policy as it has been done for decades and basically, in which it would be enough to be well placed.”
However, Elisabeth Borne “is not condemned: everyone pronounces their funeral oration, but… we are going a little quickly”, warns a close friend of the head of state. “No one in the country is urgently asking for the departure of Ms. Borne, neither more nor less than usual,” observes another familiar with the “Palace” who pleads for the status quo. Those close to the Head of State promise a rapid response whatever happens, when Mr. Macron had gotten into the habit of letting the clocks tick during previous reshuffles.