France: Weak new cabinet to maintain Macron's dominance

After weeks of negotiations, the French ministerial cabinet under the leadership of Gabriel Attal is finally formed. The results and the analysis differ based on the political preferences of the French media and society.

The center and the left wing of the French political spectrum have deemed the new government “right-wing” with the hardliners within the French opposition believing the new government will not be efficient enough, due to the compromises made by the executive power.

One thing is clear. The days when Macron’s promise to the French of being a politician who plans to govern “neither from the left nor right” are officially history. The current government involves up to a dozen ministers who either come from the right wing of the macronist movement or have openly advocated for a more conservative way of governing in the past.

One of the main intrigues and scandals that rocked the recent government formation was the open conflict between long-time Macron supporter Francois Bayrou and the new prime minister Attal.

Bayrou, who comes from the center-left political wing, has been long touted as one of the possible new ministers in the government of Attal. Nevertheless, one of the obstacles to his nomination was his relationship with Gabriel Attal. According to numerous sources, the conflict started when Bayrou, the leader of the MoDem political movement that is allied with Macron’s Renaissance, expressed doubts about the age and political inexperience of the new Prime Minister Attal.

Furthermore, the conflict has expanded into new territory when Bayrou has demanded to be given the Ministry of Education. One of the key ministries in France, where any politician can build his political capital given the attention the French public provides to this particular subject of massive importance to French society and politics. The Ministry of Education is known to be “a make it or break it” political post where many either build their political fortunes or descend into the chaos of the job and retire from political life altogether. It is worth noting, that PM Attal is a former education minister himself and has pledged to continue to oversee the progress further down the road.

Although his name was being floated to replace the ailing Amélie Oudéa-Castéra as Minister for Education, Mr. Bayrou ultimately refused to join the government. His decision was announced abruptly on Wednesday evening, in a statement sent to AFP, in which he deplored "the absence of a profound agreement on the policy to be followed", leading to an open crisis within the majority.

In that sense, Bayrou’s involvement and his tense relationship with Attal might have created a headache for the new Prime Minister, something that he quickly decided he did not need. As a countermeasure, Attal has offered the veteran of French politics the post of the Minister of Defense, something that sources from La Liberation and Le Monde confirm but such a job was quickly rejected. It is also believed that Francois Bayrou took the lack of involvement of President Macron and delegation of the task to Attal, as a personal insult and betrayal of the support that Macron has been receiving from Bayrou since the conception of the En Marche (the first iteration of Emmanuel Macron’s political movement)

On the other side of the new government, there are hardly any strong political choices, all the more implying that Macron wants to have a tight hold on the new government and keep all the power within his reach.

The coveted position of the Minister of Education was given to Nicole Belloubet, who replaced former Amelie Oudea-Castera, following a series of lies and scandals that the latter was involved in. Castera has been demoted back to her former Ministry of Sports. Frederic Valletou becomes the Minister of Health; Guillaume Kasbarian is appointed as the Minister for Housing. Another example of further descent into the right-wing territory, with Kasbarian being the initiator of the anti-squatting law that led to the forcible removal of squatters from the properties they had been occupying.

Overall, the new government is young, inexperienced, and lacks the necessary tools to oppose Macron or Attal for that matter on any issue that might be of importance to the executive power. Meaning, Emmanuel Macron has decided to simplify his reign in his last term as the president. Given the number of difficulties the president of France is going through on various amount of subjects, including the discontent of the farmers, social polarization, and lack of the necessary support in the National Assembly, such a cabinet presents him with a certain sense of calm and stability. At least in this regard.

Jamal Mustafayev