Michel Barnier’s government, announced on Saturday 21 September, includes eight ministers or secretaries of state who have already served under President Emmanuel Macron, and thirty-two newcomers. This brings to 146 the number of personalities who have participated in a government since Macron was first elected.
The analysis of all governments since May 2017 shows a continuous shift of the political spectrum towards the right. Current or former members of Les Républicains number twenty-two out of forty, including Prime Minister Michel Barnier. Twelve of them still belong to the party while three left without demonstrating a new political affiliation. Note also the growing participation of centre-right figures: three ministers from the Union of Independent Democrats and one from the Radical Party.
There are hardly any left-wing figures, apart from the former socialist Didier Migaud (judge), who has held senior positions at the Court of Auditors and the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life for more than ten years. Several other figures have been members of the Socialist Party, such as Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet (Labour), until 2007, or Laurent Saint-Martin (until 2012), Minister of the Budget. Finally, Thani Mohamed Soilihi (Secretary of State for the Francophonie), senator from Mayotte, sat with the socialist group before joining the presidential majority in 2017.
While the first Macronist governments gave pride of place to members of civil society, this proportion has been drastically reduced. Only two remain: Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who has been present in all governments since October 2018, who takes over the head of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, and Clara Chappaz, who enters the government as Secretary of State responsible for artificial intelligence and digital technology.
An evenly matched but unbalanced team
Parity is respected, with twenty men and twenty women, but this apparent balance leans towards the male side for ministers and towards the female side for ministers delegated and secretaries of state. Since 2017, the portfolios of Economy and Interior have always been occupied by men. In agriculture, Annie Genevard is the first woman since 2017, and even since Christine Lagarde in 2007.
The government is also slightly older than the previous one, with an average age of 53, compared to 49 for Gabriel Attal, the youngest prime minister of the V.my Republic.
Michel Barnier’s team has been greatly modified compared to the previous ones. Since his election in 2017, Macron had gradually built up his ministerial team by recruiting people from the right, the left and civil society, but in the course of the reshuffles, new personalities have become increasingly rare. Today, the most loyal, such as Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin, have left the government, after more than seven years in different positions.
