After having appointed 14 ministers, Gabriel Attal must complete the composition of his government with the appointment of secretaries of state. An announcement is expected by the end of January and possibly before the Prime Minister’s speech to Parliament.
If Gabriel Attal has appointed his main ministers, his government is still not complete. The two days of reflection and repeated interviews with Emmanuel Macron only made it possible to agree on the names of 14 ministers appointed on Thursday January 11: 11 full-time ministers and 3 delegate ministers appointed to essential positions (door -speech, relations with Parliament and gender equality). There is therefore a shortage of around fifteen appointments, notably those of delegate ministers and secretaries of state. The announcement of this second half of the government should take place “in around ten days” declared the spokesperson for the executive, Prisca Thévenot, after the Council of Ministers this Wednesday, January 17.
The Prime Minister has set the date for his meeting in Parliament for the delivery of his general policy speech: January 30. A choice which allows the head of government to speak after the Constitutional Council has delivered its opinion on the immigration bill, expected on January 25, and to adapt his speech accordingly. But the date of Gabriel Attal’s speech can also specify the window for the government’s announcement.
It seems logical that the Prime Minister has a complete government before specifying his political course in front of parliamentarians and therefore that the announcement comes before. But the tenant of Matignon has already ruled out the possibility of resorting to the vote of confidence of parliamentarians and risking the future of his government, so no imperative for the executive to be complete by this date? Both hypotheses are on the table according to Politico.
The date of the continuation, and end, of the reshuffle is becoming clearer, as are the names of the future ministers who are waiting to be appointed. According to persistent rumors, former members of Elisabeth Borne’s government could remain within the executive, in the same position or in charge of different portfolios. Example with Agnès Pannier-Runacher: the former Minister of Energy Transition could be Secretary of State in charge of Health to support Catherine Vautrin. Roland Lescure, former Minister of Industry, could be in charge of Energy in Bruno Le Maire’s enlarged Bercy. The Minister of the Economy would also like to retain several ministers such as Jean-Noël Barrot in Digital, Olivia Grégoire who was in charge of small and medium-sized businesses or even Thomas Cazenave in Public Accounts.
This end of the reshuffle should therefore, a priori, not hold many surprises, like the announcement of the first half of the government. But if there have been few changes in the appointment of ministers, some decisions have caused a lot of reaction such as the arrival of Rachida Dati to Culture or the attribution of two major ministries, National Education in addition to Sports, to Amélie Oudéa-Castera.
