The master of clocks has set his time. The composition of the new government, led by Elisabeth Borne, was revealed this Friday afternoon, four days after the appointment of the new Prime Minister. A tight government, pending the outcome of the legislative elections to be held on June 12 and 19. President Macron, at the dawn of his second five-year term, wanted to instill new momentum, including in his government cast.
The result ultimately has few surprises. This third team after the governments of Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex saw the balance between the different tendencies of the majority balance out.
The Republicans and centrist family
Gérald Darmanin was reappointed to his post at Place Beauvau, in office since July 6, 2020. This faithful Nicolas Sarkozy was previously Minister of Action and Public Accounts in the Edouard Philippe government. Ditto for the Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery, Bruno Le Maire, figure of the parliamentary right, also from LR. He has held the position since Macron’s first five-year term. Former director of cabinet at Matignon of Dominique de Villepin and former Minister of Agriculture, he is the most experienced personality of this team which leaves for a round.
Damien Abad lands at the Ministry of Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities. This is Emmanuel Macron’s last war prize. The now former boss of the LR deputies in the National Assembly went on leave in extremis from his party, before perhaps being excluded because of his morocco in the Borne team. This former centrist labeled UDF made a career at LR until he became vice-president.
Sébastien Lecornu goes from Overseas to La Défense, a real promotion for a real “politician”. Present since the beginning of the Macron governmental adventure, he was Secretary of State to the Minister of Ecological and Solidarity Transition Nicolas Hulot then François de Rugy in the government of Édouard Philippe II. He was then expelled from LR and joined La République en Marche (LREM).
Marc Fesneau is appointed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty. Former president of the MoDem group in the National Assembly from 2017 to 2018, he had been Minister in charge of Relations with Parliament since 2018.
Olivia Grégoire, former Secretary of State in charge of the Social and Solidarity Economy, becomes Secretary of State spokesperson for the government in place of Gabriel Attal, a new strong symbol. Being in “the liberal and constructive right”, she was an activist in her youth in the Youth with Madelin, attached to the Liberal Democracy party. She was project manager for Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin from 2002 to 2005, then collaborator of Xavier Bertrand at the Ministry of Health and Solidarity from 2005 to 2007.
Amélie de Montchalin is appointed Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion. This former close friend of Valérie Pécresse and supplier of notes to Alain Juppé quickly joined En Marche, in December 2016.
Christophe Béchu, ex-LR mayor of Angers, has just been appointed Minister Delegate in charge of Local Authorities. After having been a member of the UMP then of the Republicans – a party he left in 2017 -, the forties has been secretary general of Horizons, the party of Édouard Philippe, since October 9, 2021.
Franck Riester remains in government as Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Attractiveness. He was initially a member of the UMP and then of the Republicans, from which he was expelled in 2017 due to his rapprochement with the majority of Emmanuel Macron.
The socialist family
Apart from Elisabeth Borne, historically close to the Socialist Party and former chief of staff of Ségolène Royal at the Ministry of Ecology from 2014 to 2015, other socialist figures are part of her government.
Olivier Véran, who has been Minister of Health since 2020 and has led the fight against Covid, has been appointed Minister Delegate in charge of Relations with Parliament and Democratic Life in the new government. The 42-year-old neurologist is a former socialist deputy from Isère. This father of two children had made a name for himself by pushing a highly publicized amendment, which will be adopted, to ban modeling activity for people who are too thin.
Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labour, Full Employment and Integration, was appointed Secretary of State in November 2017 in this same government. Three years later he became Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts in the government of Jean Castex. With other former socialists, he founded the Territories of Progress party in 2020, which aims to bring together the left wing of the majority, and takes up his presidency in 2021.
Gabriel Attal, now a former government spokesperson, rose in rank by obtaining the post of Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts. Activist in the Socialist Party from 2006 to 2016, he was a member of the cabinet of the Minister of Health Marisol Touraine from 2012 to 2017 and municipal councilor of Vanves (Hauts-de-Seine) since 2014.
Brigitte Bourguignon is appointed Minister of Health and Prevention. Elected MP in the sixth constituency of Pas-de-Calais under the colors of the Socialist Party in 2012, she was re-elected five years later under those of La République en Marche. President of the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly from 2017, she was appointed Minister Delegate in charge of Autonomy at the Ministry of Solidarity and Health, in the Jean Castex government.
Clément Beaune obtains the title of Minister Delegate, in charge of European Affairs in the Borne government. From 2017 to 2020, he was special adviser to Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on European issues, then his G20 adviser. From 2012 to 2014, he worked in the cabinet of Jean-Marc Ayrault, then Prime Minister, as a budget adviser.
Stanislas Guerini, now Minister of Transformation and the Civil Service, is a former member of the Socialist Party and close to Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He participated in the founding of En Marche, which later became La République en Marche. He was the general delegate until Friday.
Yaël Braun-Pivet, is appointed Minister of Overseas. A member of the Socialist Party and then of En Marche, she was elected MP in the fifth constituency of Yvelines during the 2017 legislative elections. the very prestigious Law Commission of the National Assembly only a few weeks after his election.
Justine Benin becomes Secretary of State in charge of the Sea. This deputy had been widely elected under the label various left but close to the local PS of the second constituency of Guadeloupe. In the National Assembly, she sits as a relative of the Democratic Movement and Related Group. She is also a member of the Overseas Delegation of the National Assembly.
Civil society and senior officials
Rima Abdul Malak is appointed to the Ministry of Culture. Former cultural adviser to Emmanuel Macron, she was previously a consultant in cultural and international strategy and was previously a cultural attaché in New York, serving at the French Embassy for four years. She was also cultural adviser to the mayor of Paris between 2012 and 2014 – at the time of Bertrand Delanoë -, and previously chief of staff to the cultural assistant Christophe Girard.
Pap Ndiaye, the historian of minorities, is the new Minister of Education. This renowned academic and writer, who had called to vote for François Hollande in 2012. Since 2021, he had been director general of the Palais de la Porte Dorée, in Paris, and headed the National Museum of the History of Immigration. Doctor of history, professor at Sciences-po, Pap Ndiaye, of Senegalese father and French mother, also taught in the United States in the 1990s. He is also the brother of the novelist Marie Ndiaye.
Catherine Colonna was Ambassador of France to the United Kingdom until her appointment at the Quai d’Orsay, she is now Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs. She was Minister of European Affairs under Jacques Chirac.
Éric Dupond-Moretti retains his position as Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice. He remains in office on the side of the chancellery against all odds while he is indicted by the Court of Justice of the Republic. A former star lawyer, he joined the government in July 2020.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, appointed Minister of Energy Transition, is a former business leader. She joined En Marche in 2016 and was one of Emmanuel Macron’s first supporters during his campaign for the 2017 presidential election.
Academic Sylvie Retailleau is appointed Minister of Higher Education and Research. A physicist, she was until then president of the University of Paris-Saclay (Essonne).
Isabelle Rome has just been appointed Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of Equality between Women and Men, Diversity and Equal Opportunities. The 50-year-old was a senior official for gender equality at the Ministry of Justice since June 2018. She was the youngest judge in France, in 1987, at 23 years old. This magistrate by training only exercised the functions of magistrate of the seat. She also presided over assize courts for several years. Her latest book “Freedom, Equality, Survival” on domestic violence was published by Stock in May 2020.
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra is appointed Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games. This young forty-year-old is a senior French civil servant, trained at the ENA, from the same promotion as Emmanuel Macron. Magistrate at the Court of Auditors then Director General of the French Tennis Federation. She had a short career as a professional tennis player in her youth.
Charlotte Caubel becomes Secretary of State for Children. The now ex-director of the Judicial Protection of Youth of the Ministry of Justice is a technician from the judiciary. Previously Édouard Philippe’s Justice Advisor during his stay at Matignon, she did not have a political career.
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou is appointed Secretary of State for Development, La Francophonie and International Partnerships. Unknown to the general public, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, 46, is the real surprise of this government. Franco Hellenic born in Sparta in the Peloponnese, this gynecologist by training had stood out thanks to her fight to highlight endometriosis. She received the National Order of Merit in 2017 for her work. She is also a member of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
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