Government: announcement of personnel changes postponed to “sooner Thursday”

This is a constant in reshuffles under President Emmanuel Macron: they always take longer than expected. Originally promised around January 20, a list of about fifteen individuals to assist the 14 already appointed ministers was finally expected on Monday, but has since been delayed from day to day.

“Hurry up Thursday,” they are now saying around the head of state, who in the morning was counting on an announcement on Wednesday afternoon. This is almost a month after the appointment of the Prime Minister, a long period during which important issues (health, transport, housing, etc.) remained without special contact.

So Gabriel Attal scrapped the idea of ​​gathering his entire new team for a seminar on Thursday morning in Matignon, according to several government sources. However, that same day he continues his trip to Pas de Calais to help flood victims.

An executive adviser insists that this new postponement was decided so as not to “overshadow the tributes” on Wednesday to the victims of the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel, “a moment of national unity.”

But the casting also seemed difficult. According to several sources in the presidential camp, a delicate issue could be resolved: after long support, Emmanuel Macron would decide to remove Amelie Oudea-Caster from the priority Ministry of National Education.

“The only criterion that matters is the ability to act and move things forward,” observes executive adviser, as AOC is mired in controversy arising from criticizing public schools to justify educating its children in the private sector . He could be demoted to retain only some of his responsibilities, particularly the Olympics.

After his judicial acquittal this Monday, François Bayrou plunged into “the equation of a thousand scales,” as one of the Elysée councilors put it. “I will not join the government,” Mayor Poe finally decided this Wednesday evening, due to the lack of “deep agreement regarding future policy.”

The executive duo must also try to represent the territories in a team considered too Parisian. Deprived of an absolute majority in the National Assembly, he hopes to recruit one or more senators, perhaps from the right. But the macroni left wing is also trying not to be harmed by the right wing of the first version of the Attal government.

There are so many difficulties that forced the head of state to stall for time. “Ministers are needed on housing, health, transport, otherwise we must abolish governments,” his Socialist predecessor Francois Hollande told Franceinfo, lamenting the “unprecedented” delay.