2024-01-09 13:30:19
FRANCE – Elisabeth Borne is no longer Prime Minister. On Monday January 8, 2024, she resigned to President Emmanuel Macron, who accepted it. The name of the new Prime Minister is not yet known and Ms. Borne regulates current affairs at Matignon, as tradition dictates. In her letter of resignation, the one who was the subject of around thirty motions of censure and who resorted to article 49.3 of the Constitution 23 times emphasizes having been “passionate about her mission” and affirms that she is “more necessary than ever to continue reforms”. While waiting for the announcement from the Elysée, the hypothesis of seeing Gabriel Attal replace her is increasingly insistent, after several names have been mentioned.
The immigration law sounds the death knell for Borne
The departure of the Prime Minister was predictable, if not expected since the tensions generated by the immigration law. This, carried by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, was rejected by the National Assembly through a motion of rejection. The tenant of Place Beauvau had also presented his resignation immediately after the Parliament vote to the Head of State, who refused it. The law was finally adopted on December 19, 2023 by the joint committee (CMP) after tough negotiations between the majority and the Republicans (LR). A bitter political failure for Gérald Darmanin.
This is also the memory that opposition figures seem determined to keep of Borne. “At the time of Élisabeth Borne’s resignation, I think of the incredible waste that the immigration law was,” deplores the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau on X (formerly Twitter). “Élisabeth Borne will remain above all as the Prime Minister of a pension reform imposed on the French and an immigration law inspired by the National Front,” declared, for his part, the socialist Boris Vallaud.
In her resignation letter, Elisabeth Borne claims to have been “guided by the constant concern (…) to achieve rapid and tangible results for our fellow citizens”. She suggests, without taking any gloves off, that her departure will not is not on his own initiative, by “acting the will” of Emmanuel Macron to “appoint a new Prime Minister”.
Elisabeth Borne believes that it is “more necessary than ever to continue reforms, in order to give everyone within the Republic a chance and prospects and to build a stronger and fairer France in a more sovereign Europe”. She was, moreover, pleased to have adopted “in unprecedented conditions in Parliament, the financial texts, including the pension reform, the law relating to immigration, and more than fifty laws which respond to the challenges of our country and the concerns of the French”, which the majority of the latter reject.
The texts mentioned by the one who has been in all governments since 2017 were adopted without a vote thanks to 23 recourse to article 49.3 of the Constitution.
The opposition is ironic about the excessive use of 49.3
“She didn’t do anything wrong, but she paid the price after the immigration law and a certain weariness in our camp. We all wanted something else,” confides a Macronist deputy. According to a minister whose identity has not been revealed, Macron “initially did not want to reshuffle, but only to replace Olivier Dussopt if he was convicted at the end of his trial”. However, the Assembly’s rejection of the immigration law and, above all, the departure of certain ministers after its adoption put him “in a rage”.
The Head of State paid tribute to him in an X post, describing his work “in the service of our Nation” as “exemplary”. “You implemented our project with the courage, commitment and determination of women of state. With all my heart, thank you,” it read.
The Presidency has not disclosed any name regarding Borne’s successor at Matignon. Behind the scenes, however, it is that of Gabriel Attal who comes up the most. If he is appointed, the current Minister of National Education, aged 34, would be the youngest Prime Minister, a record held by Laurent Fabius, appointed in 1984 at 37 years old.
The reactions of the opposition to this departure of Elisabeth Borne were obviously predictable. For the Insoumis, Elisabeth Borne leaves behind “a badly damaged democracy”. The party founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon demands “a vote of confidence in Parliament” for his successor, otherwise “a motion of censure” will be tabled. Sébastien Chenu, vice-president of the RN and vice-president of the National Assembly, jokes about the excessive use of 49.3. “Elisabeth Borne will not exceed the record of 49.3. She was off to a good start,” he wrote on Twitter.
Members of the government had already been settling “current affairs” for around two weeks, according to the media. The reshuffle was expected by the cabinets, who suspended the validation of major projects. On Sunday, Emmanuel Macron had already received his Prime Minister to discuss “important issues”, summoning her to give answers to the victims of Pas-de-Calais after the series of floods which have hit the territory in recent weeks.
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