The French president, Emmanuel Macron, finally decided yesterday, after several days of speculation and suspense, to replace the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, who had been in office for twenty months. The name of the successor, who is likely to be announced today, has not yet been revealed, but French media are insisting on National Education Minister Gabriel Attal, only 34 years old, one of the president’s main collaborators since he arrived at the Elysée in 2017, a popular politician with a meteoric rise.
Borne has been the third head of government that has existed during Macron’s presidency. Before that, the position was held by Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex. The outgoing prime minister has had to struggle with very difficult issues to manage, such as pension reform, which had to be approved by decree, and the immigration law, a real legislative ordeal that finally ended with a vote favorable of the right and the extreme right. The last one was very uncomfortable for the Government and for Macron himself.
Borne’s departure shows how difficult it is for Macron to govern France after his supporters lost an absolute majority in the legislative elections in June 2022. The only potential partners capable of supporting the Macronists are the Republicans ( ER, traditional right), but they sell support very dearly and subject the Government to permanent instability.
The departure of Borne, 62, was formally presented as a resignation, despite the fact that it was Macron who urged her to step down. In the letter she made public, she specified that she was forced to resign because the president wanted her gone. It was an unusual gesture of discomfort, the head of state thanked him in a tweet for the services to the country and the “exemplary work”.
The change of tenant in the palace of Matignon automatically leads to a reshaping of the entire government team, a major political crisis. In this way, Macron tries, desperately, to give a new impetus to the presidency, which ends in May 2027. The year that has begun has very relevant dates, such as the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, which will gather in France the main leaders of the allied countries, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, an event that must promote France, but which entails enormous security risks.
In the political calculation of the Elysee, there is no doubt that the holding of the European elections in June is important. Macron’s party, Renaissance, will come second, according to the polls, at a considerable distance from National Reunification (RN, formerly National Front), Marine Le Pen’s far-right movement.
The purpose of providing the country with a new government is also to project an image of transformation, of dynamism, although the opposition and critics of Macron interpret it as another sign of impotence and of the blustering of a president in the drift
The position of prime minister is particularly uncomfortable and sacrificial in a system as presidential as the French one. For this reason, the heads of government are called “fuses”, interchangeable pieces that serve as a shield for the presidents and fit many of the criticisms that, in reality, are aimed at the direction of the State.
Macron has managed the latest crisis very much in his style, fueling doubts for days and wanting to show that he is the one who has the last word. The president did not want to opt for someone with immediate aspirations to the Elysee, such as those attributed to the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, or to the counterpart of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. Macron wanted a totally loyal personality without ambitions that could condition his management.
