Bayrou would have “loved” to be Prime Minister, but considers himself “out of the game”

2023-06-18 13:46:00

MoDem president François Bayrou would have “loved” to be Prime Minister, but he currently considers himself “out of the game” due to an upcoming trial in mid-October, he said on RTL / LCI / Le Figaro on Sunday.

“I am not in this game today because we are going to have a totally unfounded trial in the fall,” said Mr. Bayrou, questioned about a possible desire to replace Elisabeth Borne at Matignon.

“If the question is + would you have liked to do that +, I would have loved to do that. I am concerned enough about the situation in the country to tell you that, yes, I would have liked to take on this role (. ..) but I’m offside,” he continued.

The current High Commissioner for Planning will be tried from October 16, along with ten other UDF and MoDem executives, for complicity in the embezzlement of European public funds, between June 2005 and January 2017. They are suspected of having used European funds to hire parliamentary assistants who would in fact have worked, at least partially, for the party.

While a reshuffle seems to be taking shape, Mr. Bayrou conceded that there was “possible progress” to be made in the government team.

“I am for a strong president, a strong government and a strong parliament,” he summed up.

“I am for the Prime Minister to have autonomy from the President of the Republic”, as well as a “deep understanding” with the Head of State, he continued.

But also “political weight” in “whoever goes to the podium, in circumstances as difficult as those we know today with an absence of a majority”, he added, referring to Emmanuel Macron the deciding whether Ms. Borne met the right criteria.

As he had already expressed this week, Mr. Bayrou said he was “opposed to the turn to the right as well as to the left”, while part of the macronist camp is pushing in favor of an agreement with Les Républicains.

“I find it welcome that there is a Republican right trying to rebuild itself” and “appreciable the work that is done on ideas” by the boss of LR Eric Ciotti, developed Mr. Bayrou.

“But the idea that LR, elected in the opposition, would abandon its positions to enter the majority, that’s an idea I don’t believe in,” he argued.

In general, “you can make deals as long as you are solid on your foundations, as long as everyone knows who you are, where you are going and that you refuse to be pushed to one side or the other. another”, underlined this pillar of the majority.

18/06/2023 13:46:04 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP