July 2023 French government reshuffle

Emmanuel Macron
Élisabeth Borne

Emmanuel Macron carried out the second major reshuffle of his minority government, led by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, in July 2023. Following the "hundred days of appeasement and action" Macron called for in April 2023, the reshuffle had been highly anticipated and briefed in the press. There were reports of a potential change of prime minister and likely removal of ministers who had not drawn enough attention on their departments' policies or ministers who had underperformed the President's expectations.[1][2] The reshuffle was seen as an opportunity for Macron to "reset" his presidency, after the contentious passage of a pension system reform and the 2023 French riots, and reassert his authority, significantly diminished following the result of the legislative election the previous year. Despite expectations that the reshuffle was to be pivotal to the rest of Macron's second term and that it would indicate a clear, fresh political direction for the country, few changes to the cabinet's composition were made and, crucially, Borne retained her position as head of government. Overall, the operation was interpreted as a fallback reshuffle, in a sense that the President sought to close ranks around his leadership by rewarding loyalist politicians, pushing out civil society figures and minimally altering existing political balances inside his Cabinet.[3] Nevertheless, the removal of education minister Pap Ndiaye was seen as a concession to conservative and far-right critics.[4]

It was widely reported that Macron and his prime minister disagreed over the scope of the government reshuffle and the manner of "staging" it: Borne reportedly argued in favor of substantial changes to the ministerial line-up while Macron favored carrying out a "technical" reshuffle. Likewise, Borne reportedly wanted to make her retention of the premiership a political event by resigning, being reappointed and subsequently forming a new cabinet, so that it could strengthened her position in the face of cabinet rivals: Macron chose instead to announce his decision to keep her as PM through press reports followed by a confirmation of those reports by his entourage, an unprecedented manner to unveil such a key decision under the Fifth Republic.[5][6]

  1. ^ William Galibert (9 June 2023). "Reshuffle: who could replace Borne at Matignon?". RTL (in French).
  2. ^ Marius Bocquet (14 June 2023). "Reshuffle: Schiappa, Ndiaye, Braun..., ministers in the hot seat". Le Point (in French).
  3. ^ "The French government's strange reshuffle". Le Monde. 21 July 2023.
  4. ^ Claire Gatinois (4 August 2023). "Le calvaire solitaire de Pap Ndiaye, porte-voix de l'antiracisme au gouvernement". Le Monde (in French). Son départ du gouvernement, le 20 juillet, il le sait, est un « trophée de chasse » pour l'extrême droite et la droite.
  5. ^ François-Xavier Bourmaud (20 July 2023). "Macron compels Borne to a 'technical reshuffle'". Le Figaro (in French).
  6. ^ Erwan Bruckert (21 July 2023). "Reshuffle: Emmanuel Macron 1, Elisabeth Borne 0". L'Express (in French).