It’s the chef’s surprise. Michel Barnier created from scratch, on September 21, an unusual portfolio, that of “governmental coordination.” And he confided it to a faithful among the faithful, Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée, councilor of Paris and senator Les Républicains (LR). “A new situation, a new title”justifies the interested party, while judging that“A coordination mission of this type under the authority of the Prime Minister would be essential for any government”. The minister delegate will have the heavy task, we say in Matignon, of “streamline, coordinate and report on government action” to the head of government.
Before the presidents of the “common base” groups, meeting on Wednesday, September 25 in Matignon, Michel Barnier praised the merits of this innovation, which should allow the “ball to turn” between ministers who come from different origins, when it does not. were. not political adversaries.
If the function creates the organ, it has yet to be invented. “My role will be to help the Prime Minister carry out his projects quickly, fluidly and efficiently, to meet the expectations of the French people”summarizes Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée, a strong-willed sexagenarian who has settled, perhaps temporarily, on Saint-Dominique Street, in the former premises of the State Secretariat for Equality between Women and Men. While her forty colleagues will be attentive to her road map, this senior official will, it is said, Rue de Varenne, the “driver” of the government, responsible for“inject the collective” in this motley team of macronists and republicans, among whom the first dissensions have already appeared.
A “political” role
Attached exclusively to the Prime Minister, like the minister responsible for relations with Parliament, Nathalie Delattre, and the government spokesperson, Maud Bregeon, Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée is, unlike her two colleagues, a close friend of Michel Barnier, whose campaign led the right-wing primaries in 2021.
Former deputy secretary general of the Elysée under Jacques Chirac, with whom she participated in the implementation of public policies in favor of disability and road safety, she defines herself as a “gaullist social”. His unwavering devotion to the former president caused Nicolas Sarkozy’s friends to prevent him from standing in the 2007 legislative elections in Seine-et-Marne. So right-wing elected officials were not surprised to see her appointed to government. “Barnier is a man who walks by loyalty and fidelity”remember one of them.
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