Cinema on the Côte d’Azur, cycling in the South-West… What will ministers’ holidays look like?

2023-08-01 15:07:59

There are those, present in the class all year round, who have already taken to their heels and lighten their schedules. And the little newbies who will have to work on their subject even coated with sunscreen on the beach. The government is going on vacation, but Elisabeth Borne called on her ministers to be “cautionary”, and asked them to keep their phones close to them during this summer break.

The Prime Minister must leave for her part Wednesday evening on leave in the south of the country, but will remain “mobilized”. “I’m going to walk, I really like that,” she said on BFMTV. With “a lot of reading and a little rest” and above all “vigilance”, each minister being asked, as every year, to stay at a reasonable distance from a prefecture. “Obviously you have to rest” but “also be on the bridge, ready to react if there is a difficulty”, warned the head of government.

The start of the holidays is already spoiled by the crisis in Niger, which risks occupying part of the executive. After chairing a last Council of Ministers remotely from Nouméa on July 26, Emmanuel Macron convened a defense council on Saturday devoted to this country, where a coup d’etat overthrew elected President Mohamed Bazoum, an ally of France. The head of state would, according to the local press, arrived this weekend at Fort Brégançon in the Var, where he has his summer habits.

A “studious rest”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna had taken the direction of Touraine on Monday but she had to return to Paris “to manage the crisis” in Niger. This also concerns his colleague at Defense Sébastien Lecornu, who has planned to stay in Eure. Among the graduates of the new government reshuffled on July 20, Gabriel Attal at Education, in full preparation for the start of the school year, will take very little vacation.

As for the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau, surprised by the reshuffle, he will go to the Gard where he is elected, but will above all “work on his files” and travel to the field, “on alert” on the emergency services often tense at this time and on the heat. The new Minister of Solidarity Aurore Bergé, who left Monday with her family between Normandy and the mountains, will take a “studious rest”.

Cinema, sport and family

The Secretary of State for the City, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, also a novice in government, will go to Corsica, where her husband is rector, and to the Alpes-Maritimes, and will look into some files for the start of the school year. The Minister of Research and Higher Education Sylvie Retailleau will go and relax with her family in the Alpes-Maritimes, where she will take the opportunity to see the film Oppenheimer which retraces the life of the American physicist who invented the atomic bomb. A Côte d’Azur destination also chosen by Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti.

Passionate about cycling, Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate for Industry, will not fail to ride the little queen during his break in the South West. Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra took the direction of Loire-Atlantique on Sunday for a few days of vacation which will be “studious, before embarking on the home stretch towards the Olympic Games”. Bruno Le Maire, who left for Chamonix in Haute-Savoie on Tuesday, will then go to the Basque Country, to read (write?) and spend time with his family. Government spokesperson Olivier Véran and Marc Fesneau opted for the South-East. The ministers have an appointment on August 23 in Paris for the Council of Ministers back to school.