Sacha Houlié, elected from the left wing of the majority, will be crowned deputy of the year this Thursday, February 15, 2024. A reward which arrives after the false hopes entertained by the Prime Minister of his appointment to the government.
A prestigious award that feels like a consolation prize. Sacha Houlié will receive the MP of the Year award from Trombinoscope, an annual ceremony which crowns political figures, this Thursday, February 15. The majority deputy is undoubtedly praised for his parliamentary work, in particular that carried out as chairman of the law committee for the examination of the immigration bill.
The reward is great, especially for one of the rare elected representatives of meritocracy who rose from the middle class to the National Assembly. Winner of a Trombinoscope Prize, Sacha Houlié rubs shoulders with other award-winning personalities including Gabriel Attal crowned Minister of the Year and the presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly. But less than a week from his disappointment at not joining the government, the reward could revive the MP’s bitterness.
Sacha Houlié experienced the emotional elevator several times during the weeks preceding the reshuffle. The deputy from the left wing of Macronie did not hesitate to express his opposition to the immigration bill and had even decided, against presidential instructions, to vote against the adoption of the text. This affront to the authority of the majority leader had, according to him, condemned him not to be appointed minister during the reshuffle. But Gabriel Attal, just installed in Matignon, had revived his hopes by asking the MP in an SMS and reported by Les Echos: “What would interest you?” Sacha Houlié, ambitious, aimed at Education and Sports.
The first wave of the reshuffle did not sign the deputy’s appointment to the super-ministery, but he still believed in his promotion even as delegated ministry in charge of Sports during the latest announcements. As the end of the reshuffle approached, hope was still there for Sports, even if the profiles of François Bayrou and Nicole Belloubet were preferred to replace the departing Amélie Oudéa-Castéré. He was not the only one to judge his appointment credible as evidenced by a message from Nicole Belloubet the day before the reshuffle also relayed by Les Echos: “Will we have the pleasure of hearing your name tomorrow?” A quarter of an hour later the ax had fallen and dashed the MP’s hopes.
“I had the impression of being taken for an imbecile” the MP reacted to the newspaper after receiving a message from Gabriel Attal – who himself had placed the seed of hope in Sacha’s head Houlié – to warn him: “On Sports, it would have really made sense, but we left to keep Amélie Oudéa-Castéra until the Olympics so that she could deliver”. The Prime Minister had justified the decision by a “big, hyper-complicated women’s issue” and had given the MP to look further ahead for a possible appointment after the Olympic Games.
Sacha Houlié has since not speculated on his possible entry into government one day. He explained to Les Echos before the announcement of the reshuffle that he had already refused a government position in July 2023 to avoid being under the tutelage of the right-wing Gérald Darmani. He also believed that “it is Parliament which corresponds [to him] best”: “I am free; I do not like being told what I have to do or being told my diary; I like to have a rant when I feel like doing it.” Without drawing a line under his ambitions, the MP will therefore continue to work in Parliament, where his work is rewarded, while waiting to perhaps one day be crowned minister of the year.
