It is the government's new green storefront. LREM deputy for the Somme and former secretary of state, Barbara Pompili was appointed minister of the ecological transition Monday evening in the government of Jean Castex. Aged 45, Barbara Pompili, "reformist" ecologist, former EELV, tries to make an ecological sensitivity heard by "walkers" who are not always converted. At the head since 2017 of the Assembly's Sustainable Development Committee, she capitalizes on her experience as Secretary of State for Biodiversity from February 2016 to May 2017, under François Hollande.
"We know her well since she was at EELV", reacted Alain Colombel, spokesman for the party, Monday on Europe 1. "She knows very well the files which concern the ecology, but it is the overall line of the government that matters ... ", he nuanced, a symbol of high expectations on the ecology file, a few days after the triumph of EELV at the municipal level.
At work !
- Barbara Pompili (@barbarapompili) July 6, 2020The first part of the quinquennium falls short of its expectations on ecology
Quite discreet or even withdrawn at the start, as if to better make way for the "new world" at the Palais Bourbon, Barbara Pompili had developed within the Sustainable Development Commission, and beyond, a pro-environment network. To try to weigh more, after a first part of five-year period below its expectations, it has also recently created, with the ex-Chiraquien Hugues Renson, the association "En Commun", which brings together some fifty LREM deputies of social and ecological sensitivity.
"She's a hard worker, someone who always aims to bring people together around projects," said a former collaborator. And if "she is not a rebellious" in the soul, she is not "blessed yes-yes" either. For example, it abstained in early 2019 on the controversial anti-cracker text. For the municipal elections in Amiens, she was on the list of Christophe Porquier, her ex-EELV companion, even if it meant facing the UDI candidate supported by LREM.
Furthermore, mixed on the results of the Citizens' Climate Convention at the end of June, she warned that its success "will depend on the way in which we all collectively succeed in transforming the test, on political will".
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"She will encounter difficulties in a clearly right-oriented government"
"We wish all success to Barbara Pompili, but we are aware of the difficulties it will encounter in a government that is clearly oriented to the right," commented Alain Colombel, citing in particular the Minister of the Economy, Bruno le Maire, and the new Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. "There is little chance that environmental issues will be fully raised by this government," fears even Alain Colombel.
A speech shared by Julien Bayou, secretary general of EELV, on Twitter. "A simple roadmap, that of the Citizens' Convention, climate. Let us hope that it does better than during its passage as Secretary of State for biodiversity under Holland. Enough speeches, deeds".
Good luck to #Pompili Minister of Ecology.
A simple roadmap, that of the #citizen convention #climate.
Let us hope that it does better than during its passage as Secretary of State for biodiversity under Hollande.
Enough of speeches, deeds. # Ministerial reshuffle
"A recycled green"
But Barbara Pompili is able to assert her ideas. She even sometimes banged on the government, in particular because of certain budgetary choices or against the environment, and more and more on her comrades of EELV, a party which she "no longer recognized" and which she had left at the end of 2015.
After breaking up with the Greens, she became Secretary of State alongside Ségolène Royal and had the law definitively adopted for the recovery of biodiversity. But during the 2017 presidential election, despite the instructions from Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to the government team, she was the first to publicly support Emmanuel Macron for the presidential election and ran under the LREM label for his re-election in the Somme.
According to Michaël Darmon, political editorialist of Europe 1, Barbara Pompili has "a rather advanced strategic sense", this one having been in the negotiations, even the organization of the new parliamentary group "Ecology, democracy, solidarity", dissident of LREM , created last May. "At the last moment, she withdrew, saying 'I don't join him'," continues the editorialist. "There, we already understood behind the scenes that there may be some commitments concerning it in the future."
Barbara Pompili is "a recycled eco-friendly", mocks a walking colleague. While she is not close to Emmanuel Macron, some fear however that she lacks political clout. His action, in a highly symbolic ministry, will be closely scrutinized.