Emmanuel Macron's second term in office begins this Saturday with a 21-shot salute fired from the cannons on Invalidenplatz.

So far there has been little sign of the "new method" he promised in his victory speech in Paris.

450 invited guests are expected at the Elysée Palace for the inauguration.

Only the president knows whether the future prime minister is among them.

As so often, he plays with the nerves of his fellow combatants.

The members of the government believed that they would be present at the last cabinet meeting on April 28th.

Until Macron took the floor and ordered them to continue in office.

"Oh dear, my plane tickets," sighed the 75-year-old Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot, who had been looking forward to a rest too soon.

Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, a former airline pilot,

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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While left-wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon is calling on his compatriots to elect him prime minister, Macron is taking his time.

The constitution reserves him the right to nominate a new head of government and to conjure up a political counterpart to Mélenchon before the general election in five weeks.

Macron wants a woman to head the government.

It would be the first since socialist Edith Cresson, who stayed in office for just under eleven months in 1991.

Party work remains a man's job

It should stand for environmental awareness, have a social streak and at the same time have the strengthening of economic power in mind, Macron described the ideal cast.

He also revealed that the head of government should control climate protection measures centrally.

Two women have already withdrawn, including Socialist Group leader Valérie Rabault, who doesn't like the idea of ​​a retirement age of 65.

Macron, visibly annoyed, announced that he hadn't even offered Rabault the job.

The president wants to remain "minister for everything," said his former patron, former interior minister Gérard Collomb, with whom relations have visibly cooled.

In fact, Macron had the list of candidates for all 577 constituencies presented to him.

On the first floor of the Elysée Palace, the “President of all French” decided who may stand for election on June 12 and 19.

Only a small circle was involved, including the President of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand.

Even in Macron's second term, party affairs remain a man's business.

Directional decision about Europe

Under the heading "Together" ("Ensemble"), Ferrand presented the electoral pact alongside the three party leaders Stanislas Guérini (La République en marche), Edouard Philippe (Horizons) and François Bayrou (MoDem).

400 constituencies for the presidential movement, 110 for the small centrist partner MoDem and 58 for the party of former Prime Minister Philippe have already been agreed.

This gives the latter the chance to achieve parliamentary group strength (15 seats) and financial independence.

Macron personally ensures that his former head of government does not become too politically strong too quickly.

All of Paris is talking about the fact that Philippe could run for the highest office in 2027.

In order to contain Philippe, the La République en marche movement, which is organized like a Macron fan club, is to be given party structures.

This goes hand in hand with a name change: “Renaissance” is intended to stand for the desire for renewal.

"We want to re-establish a political party," said Guérini.

"Renaissance" was already the name under which Macron's movement campaigned in the 2019 European elections.

In the parliamentary elections on June 12th and 19th, a directional decision will again be made about Europe, said Guérini.

He courts socialists who are "disappointed by the betrayal of François Mitterrand's European legacy."

It is a question of whether France wants to continue to help shape the European unification process or whether it wants to "disobediently" play the role of an outsider, said Secretary of State for Europe Clément Beaune.

The left-wing electoral alliance of the Left Party LFI, Socialists, Greens and Communists is aiming for an EU confrontation course.

According to the agreement, they no longer want to support the "liberal and profit-oriented course of the EU".

The EU competition rules and the common agricultural policy cannot be reconciled with a change in climate policy.

In their agreement, the left-wing allies refer to Germany (with regard to the drinking water supply) and other EU countries, which also failed to respect EU rules.

They expressly rule out a Frexit.

62 percent of the delegates of the socialist "party parliament" approved the left-wing election pact on Friday night.

Macron wants to outline his counter-program on Monday when he appears in front of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg at the end of the EU Future Conference.

On Europe Day, in the late afternoon, he will travel on to Berlin, where he will meet Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The conversation is also said to be about the Ukraine war, which threatens to overshadow Macron's second term.

"Nationalism means war," Macron quoted former President Mitterrand during his campaign appearance in Strasbourg on April 12.

He wants to defend his European legacy in the parliamentary elections.