Pacy-sur-Eure, in Normandy. It is towards this small town that Bruno Le Maire is heading on the evening of June 11, less than two days after the dissolution. The countdown has begun that will lead to his departure from Bercy, and perhaps from politics. In front of a hundred activists, he confirmed that he would not be a candidate in the legislative elections in this constituency that belonged to him and named Julien Canin, the young man he had chosen to wear the Macronist colours. “Julien, I am counting on you to bring this constituency back to the National Rally. [RN], he says. But let me tell you that it will be difficult. I looked: the RN achieved dizzying scores in certain municipalities…” Then he criticizes the entire population: “Open your eyes, Frenchman, wake up!”
Three months later, the outlook for the resigning Minister of Economy and Finance is grim. In his former stronghold of Eure, “where it all began” According to his formula, his colt did not prevent the re-election of RN. The far-right wave has swept through France. The right from which he came is in pieces, even if one of his own, Michel Barnier, was appointed to Matignon. The Macronists he brought together in 2017 lost. It is a government subject to the good will of the RN which is preparing to lead the country.
More than seven years at Bercy, two endless months of managing current affairs and, in a few days, the life of a minister will come to an end. Some of his colleagues are doing everything they can to stay in the new government. He is not. It is not about participating in any “tactical soup”, a coalition without a clear programme, he said. He has little desire to be associated with the political decay he senses is coming: “Dissolutions for convenience inevitably lead to regime crises,” “he predicted to Emmanuel Macron when, on June 9, the latter warned him that he would end the mandate of the deputies two hours later.
It remains to be seen how it will go. The most enduring big moneymaker in all of V.my Republic, the good student Bruno Le Maire hoped to graduate with an outstanding record. “The economy is on the right track” repeat from set to set: “We have revived industrial production, lowered taxes, created 2 million jobs and made France the most attractive nation for foreign investment in Europe.” For seven years, “France’s cumulative growth is greater than that of Great Britain, Italy or Germany,” He insisted again on Thursday 12 September, in front of all the Bercy staff gathered in the large courtyard of the ministry.
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