This time, there it is. While his name has come up regularly among the “ministerable” personalities since the first election of Emmanuel Macron, Christophe Béchu enters the government. The mayor of Angers and president of Angers Métropole joins the team of Elisabeth Borne unveiled this Friday afternoon, as Minister Delegate in charge of local authorities. Not really a surprise about this 47-year-old man, now very close to Édouard Philippe until recently becoming the secretary general of his new Horizons party, as he has cultivated a certain “Macron-compatibility” for several years.
In 2014, after 37 years of reign of the left, Christophe Béchu wore the colors of the UMP when he succeeded in overturning the town hall of Angers by surrounding himself with a team with multiple sensitivities, a sign of an ability to gather widely. Picked up by La République en Marche after getting rid of his LR label in 2017, the one who was also the youngest president of the General Council of France, then European deputy and senator in the past, had received the nomination of the presidential party to prepare for his second term, a few months after having been at the initiative of a platform signed by 72 mayors from the right and from the center, in support of Emmanuel Macron.
He has already worked with Elisabeth Borne
The one who has since found a partisan anchor at Horizons has now probably been able to take advantage of the political balance of the different components of the majority. Without forgetting a final element: in 2018, Christophe Béchu was appointed head of the Agency for Financing Transport Infrastructure in France (AFITF), where he was also reappointed by the government last year. A undoubtedly decisive step which allowed him to regularly cross paths with the various Ministers of Transport… including a certain Elisabeth Borne, who held the position for two years.
Source: 20minutes
