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‘Action, action, Action’: Macron tilts new French government to the right

The names of the new French government have been revealed with newly-installed PM Gabriel Attal demanding "action, action, action" from a cabinet that is now titled to the right with all the top ministries in the hands of men.

Published: 11 January 2024 17:44 CET
Updated: 12 January 2024 08:48 CET

'Action, action, Action': Macron tilts new French government to the right

President Emmanuel Macron and new PM Gabriel Attal have opted for a new cabinet that shows a shift to the right. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

The new ministers were eventually announced on Thursday evening in an official statement from the presidential palace.

However most of the of names had already been leaked to French media earlier in the evening.

Attal chose to keep heavyweight ministers, such as Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, and Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti in their posts.

Sébastien Lecorno also kept his job as the Minister for the Armed Forces.

The big ministerial job that changed hands was the foreign minister. Catherine Colonna leaves the role that will be taken up by Stephane Sejourné, who was the head of President Emmanuel Macron’s political party Renaissance.

Sejourné was also previously in a civil partnership with Attal, France’s first openly gay prime minister, but their relationship is now believed to be over.

This left all the top ministerial positions in the hands of men.

France’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (R) and French TV host Gilles Bouleau pose prior to the start of evening news broadcast of French TV channel TF1. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)

“What I want is action, action, action” and “results, results, results,” Attal told TF1 television, praising the “energy” of his ministers who he said were “committed 200 percent to meet the expectations of the French”.

Attal said he’ll fulfil Macron’s promise to cut taxes for the middle class, though he wouldn’t be tied into a timetable.

In the most surprising move Rachida Dati, the former Justice Minister during the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy and member of the right-wing opposition Republicans party, was named the new culture minister.

Paris’ 7th district mayor Rachida Dati delivers a speech in January 2022 (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

Amélie Oudéa-Castera will replace Attal as education minister but will also keep her previous brief as minister for sport and youth – creating what the French press dubbed a “super-ministry”.

Castera, 45, a former French tennis champion who already faces an immense task overseeing the Olympic Games this summer in Paris.

Catherine Vautrin, a former spokesperson for ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy and a minister under ex-President Jaques Chirac was named minister of labour, health and solidarity, whilst Marc Fesneau kept his job as agriculture minister.

Another minster who remains in his post is the Christophe Bechu the ecology minister. Sylvie Retailleau keeps her job as Minister for higher education.

Commentators see the reshuffle as essential to relaunch President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist presidency for its last three years and prevent him becoming a “lame duck” leader after his party lost its overall majority in 2022 legislative elections.

Asked about his own presidential ambitions, Attal said “2027 is not the subject, what interests me is 2024.”

The appointments appeared to mark a new shift to the right for Macron’s centrist government, with the defection of Dati causing a furore within the Republicans.

Eric Ciotti, leader of the Republicans party, announced Dati would be excluded from the party following her appointment, accusing her of “placing herself outside our political family”.

Colonna’s departure had been widely expected, with the former ambassador to the UK seen by critics as not being a loud enough voice for French foreign policy at a time of multiple global challenges.

When Macron came to power in 2017, his government mixed figures from the right and the left but the new cabinet is prominently sprinkled with right-wing names.

The appointment of Attal and the reshuffle are seen as crucial for Macron relaunching his government with an eye to June 2024 European elections where the far right under Marine Le Pen’s protege Jordan Bardella, 28, are leading in the polls.

Cabinet ministers are also keenly aware that Macron cannot stand again in 2027 presidential elections which will represent Le Pen’s best ever chance to take the Elysee.

High-ranking civil servant and former treasury director Emmanuel Moulin, 55, has been named Attal’s chief of staff but the premier is also bringing with him from the education ministry four young special advisors of his generation dubbed “the power rangers” in French media.

Who are the main ministers:

Interior minister – Gérald Darmanin

French media predicted that Darmanin would remain in his post, having reportedly received assurances from President Emmanuel Macron himself. Darmanin, another young high-flyer, had received the biggest political setback of his career in December when an immigration bill was initially rejected in parliament. French media also reported that a change in the interior minister a few months prior to the Olympic Games could have been “badly received”.

Stephane Sejourné

The 38 year-old Sejourné is the head Macron’s movement Renaissance and was also in civil partnership with PM Attal. Their relationship is believed to be over however.

Finance minister – Bruno Le Maire

Le Maire was set to remain in his position. Hailing originally from the centre-right of the political spectrum, Le Maire has been Macron’s finance minister since the president first came to power in 2017.

Justice minister – Éric Dupond-Moretti

The justice minister was expected to maintain his post. The former high-profile criminal lawyer has attracted controversy in the past, namely for the clients he chose to represent, which included Julian Assange. As well as a lawyer he’s also an entertainer, and previously toured a one-man show telling anecdotes from his legal career.

Armed forces minister – Sébastien Lecornu

Originally speculated as a contender for the role of prime minister, French media reported that Lecornu would stay in his position as armed forces minister. The role was reportedly offered to the former prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, on Monday, who apparently refused it.

Government spokesperson – Prisca Thévenot

French media reported that Thévenot would take up the post, replacing Olivier Véran who held the position since July 2022. In July 2023, she was appointed to the role of junior minister for youth. Thévenot also serves as an MP from the Hauts-de-Seine département with President Macron’s centrist Renaissance party. According to French media, she is a close friend to the prime minister.

Labour minister – Catherine Vautrin

Former MP for the centre-right Republicans party, Catherine Vautrin, will reportedly be appointed Minister of Labor, according to TF1 sources. She will replace Olivier Dussopt, who was appointed in May 2022 and oversaw Macron’s landmark pension reform.

Sport and Education minister – Amélie Oudéa-Castera

Oudéa-Castera will take over as minister of education, the post previously held by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, while maintaining her position as minister for sport and Olympic Games. Political commendaters noted that she may not have “much room to manoeuvre”, as the PM promised to “take the subject of schools with him”.

Culture minister – Rachida Dati.

In a surprise appointment, the former minister of justice under former president Nicolas Sarkozy, Dati will take over as minister of culture. She currently serves as the mayor of the capital’s 7th arrondissement and is a member of the centre-right Les Republicains party. She will replace Rima Abdul Malik.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.