An ambitious right-wing minister can hide another, but if Gérald Darmanin multiplies the media swerves, Sébastien Lecornu plays his part discreetly. In charge of the armies, he has nevertheless become an essential cog for Emmanuel Macron, sometimes mentioned for Matignon.
In the Fifth Republic, the president is the chief of the armies and Sébastien Lecornu, 37, on the right track to have his framework law adopted in Parliament, has integrated him well.
The man wants to be as discreet as his sidekick Gérald Darmanin, like him from the Republicans (LR), takes center stage. A classic Place Beauvau. But not really the kind that suits the Hôtel de Brienne, even less with the war in Ukraine.
The complicity of these two young hopefuls of the right passed from 2017 to Emmanuel Macron is displayed even in the courtyard of the Élysée.
Before becoming macronists, Gérald Darmanin worked for Nicolas Sarkozy and Sébastien Lecornu at Bruno Le Maire. Five years later, they occupy the two sovereign positions par excellence of the government.
But when the Minister of the Interior, on the immigration side, is still looking for the key to an agreement with LR, the game is more muted for Sébastien Lecornu and his Military Programming Law (LPM), which provides the armies with a budget of 413 billion euros for the next seven years. A solemn vote is scheduled for Wednesday in the Assembly.
A real breath that this parliamentary debate for this “gifted politician” according to the former minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet, passed like him by the Catholic establishment Saint-Adjutor de Vernon (Eure), political stronghold of the Minister of the Armed Forces. “He’s one of the smartest in the art of parliament. He’s going to get his law passed,” predicts a Renaissance deputy.
Even the opposition salutes his attitude, the ecologist Julien Bayou praising “his patience, his work and his answers”.
The history-loving minister knows how to wrap a spade between two compliments, hailing the “coherence” of the communists opposed to nuclear deterrence… as in the days of Moscow. And taking care to emphasize the differences within the left.
“He is skilful, we have quality debates but behind all that, there is always the government’s strategy of seeking to divide the Nupes and to be more conciliatory with the National Rally”, moderates the boss of the ecologist deputies, Cyrielle Chatelain. During the debates, the minister delivered a number of wisdom opinions on amendments from the Frontist party.
The stage of the LPM is about to be crossed: a good point for the minister whose entourage estimated last year that Emmanuel Macron had “not garnered enough political credit from the increase in the budget of the armies ” in the time of her predecessor, Florence Parly.
“Lecornu dreams of Matignon”, affirms a senior officer. But one of his relatives denies it: “he wanted the Ministry of the Armed Forces so badly, he wants to take advantage of it”.
A first consecration for this reserve colonel whose entire CV describes a political professional: parliamentary assistant at 19, mayor of Vernon at 27, president of the department of Eure at 28, propelled to the government at 31, to the Ecology then to the Communities, before the Overseas. Without neglecting to be elected to the Senate.
In the Eure, the list of its present and past activities darkens six good pages of its declaration of interest to the High Authority, from the Société des autoroutes Paris-Normandie to the public land establishment of the region, not passing the presidency of the Museum of Impressionisms in Giverny.
At the head of the association supporting the re-election of Emmanuel Macron, “he is very appreciated for his important role in mobilizing elected officials during the campaign”, slips a minister. In the event of a more assumed turn to the right, “it could be a good choice for the president, because he would not take too much light”, judges a parliamentarian.
“He lost everything, this boy”, relativizes a former minister, who refers to the historical scores of Marine Le Pen overseas and to the results of the legislative elections in Eure: four RN deputies and a PS, very far from the macronist grand slam of 2017.
“If Lecornu is Prime Minister, that will definitively confirm that we are a right-wing party”, worries a Renaissance deputy, in favor of maintaining Elisabeth Borne.
06/02/2023 14:24:37 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP