Reshuffle: does Emmanuel Macron still have a choice?

Is a reshuffle in preparation at the top of the state? The rumor swells in recent months, because Emmanuel Macron has had a difficult year to start his second five-year term at the Elysée. Pension reform, repeated use of 49.3, controversies, small sentences… The President of the Republic is at his lowest level of popularity since the Yellow Vests crisis and he seems to be having a hard time redressing it, for him as for his troops.

Judged absent during the debates on the pension reform, the Head of State returns to the field in this month of April, multiplying the trips and addresses to the French. Speech, interview… Will Emmanuel Macron be able to renew the dialogue or must he cut off a few heads from the government to breathe the new life his five-year term needs?

In recent weeks, the tenant of the Elysée has also multiplied the calls to order with his team. Quoted by Le Point, he would have had this sentence Wednesday, April 19 during the Council of Ministers: “Be concentrated, at the head of your administrations. Talk about your subjects and do not talk about yourself”. Among the 40 members of his government, Emmanuel Macron could only count on three names, among the best known ministers of the French: Bruno Le Maire (Economy), Gérald Darmanin (Interior) and Gabriel Attal (Public Accounts).

The others, according to Renaissance parliamentarians quoted by the magazine, are “invisible”, “cannonballs” or “worn” personalities. During an exchange with Emmanuel Macron, a member of the majority would have even slipped: “Your government is catastrophic”. Near Le Point, elected officials from the Palais Bourbon let go, one of them explaining that it is “a undertaker’s government: end of life, end of unemployment, end of work”, when another assumes: “Sometimes , in the Assembly, when a minister takes the floor, one wonders what his name is, what portfolio he holds”.

The President of the Republic has been pushed by some, for several weeks, to a reshuffle, but he has refused to do so so far. Will he be “forced” to do so in the very near future?

Many observers expected a shake-up after the pension reform debacle, but that was not the case. The objective would have been, according to Le Point, to “turn the page more quickly”. Refusing to act under pressure, Emmanuel Macron decided not to reshuffle because, according to one of his relatives, “a government change would have shown an accident, an overreaction to the crisis”. However, according to another, “it can’t last”: “The observation is clear: it’s cooked and it won’t last a hundred days. It’s all going to blow up”.

For a former socialist minister, Emmanuel Macron would be solely responsible for this situation. Asked by Le Point, she explains that the president “is so afraid of having solid people around him that he pushes them away”. “What transpires is that it is not pleasant to work with him (…) there is a distance, all his ministers see him as you”.

A reshuffle to surround himself with heavyweights in government would therefore be the only solution to boost Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term, but who could lose his job?

As chief fuse, the Prime Minister could be forced to leave Matignon in the event of a reshuffle in the coming weeks. According to Le Point, a close friend of Emmanuel Macron considers “inevitable” the departure of Elisabeth Borne and the arrival of “robust ministers, who hold the road”. Some exit candidates are already found, according to the weekly, because we do not see them enough: Pap Ndiaye (National Education), François Braun (Health), Christophe Béchu (Ecological Transition), Olivier Klein (Housing)…

Others are accused of “statements or appearances deemed untimely”, according to Le Point. Marlène Schiappa in PlayBoy, Olivia Grégoire in Paris Match… The ax falls from the mouth of a communicator: “When a minister breaks the sound barrier, it’s to talk bullshit”. Atmosphere.