In ten days of “consultations”, Emmanuel Macron has succeeded in making the selection process for the next prime minister illegible. Names have been circulating and cars have been parading in the courtyard of the Elysée since 23 August, amplifying the confusion. What profile is the President of the Republic looking for in Matignon? A left-wing or right-wing prime minister? A politician or a technician?
The imbroglio bordered on vaudeville on Monday 2 September, when the name of Thierry Beaudet, unknown to the general public, came up as Bernard Cazeneuve left the office of the Head of State. A “technical” profile is therefore no longer excluded.
Before calling Thierry Beaudet, president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), Emmanuel Macron tried his luck with the former head of the CFDT, Laurent Berger. Contacted on Tuesday by the President of the Republic, the former trade union leader, now “in decline of public life”rejected the proposal.
Emmanuel Macron only made contact with Thierry Beaudet, a close associate of Laurent Berger and the CFDT, on Friday. The two men spoke several times over the weekend, according to The new obs. The Beaudet hypothesis, however, leaves even the supporters of the Head of State in doubt.
This 62-year-old professor, who has devoted much of his career to the mutual sector (he chaired MGEN from 2009 to 2016, then the National Federation of French Mutual Societies from 2016 to 2021) does not seem prepared to face the crisis. The “cauldron” of the Palais Bourbon, now divided into three blocks, we judge in the center and on the left.
“The power of appointment”, the last letter from the head of state
Without ministerial experience or troops to support him, Thierry Beaudet “Could he lead a government? Could he build trust with the political groups in the National Assembly?”asks a former adviser to Emmanuel Macron. “There is a big difference between talking to employers and trade unions as President of the EESC and talking to them as Prime Minister, “warns the president of the Socialist Group in the Senate, Patrick Kanner. I wish you lots of fun! » “He is a man of quality but (…) He never governed, he never worked to unite political forces”points out the socialist president of the Occitania region, Carole Delga.
Elected President of the Third Chamber of the Republic in May 2021, this left-wing activist, reader of Pierre Mendès-France and follower of dialogue and consensus, strives to make the voice of civil society heard at the head of the institution. In 2023, he oversaw the citizens’ convention on the end of life, “democratic innovation” imagined by Emmanuel Macron after the “yellow vest” crisis.
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