According to sources in the presidential camp, the announcement of the new casting, a time hoped for Wednesday evening, will finally take place Thursday.

At the Elysée, where everything is at stake, nothing filters. The meetings followed one another on Wednesday, on nuclear policy in the morning, the preparation of the Olympics in the afternoon.

The only notable clue was that the Prime Minister lingered after the second meeting. With no doubt adjustments to arbitrate to refine the list of ministers.

These prevarications give the image of a "showdown" between Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne "around a reshuffle that was not supposed to be one", since the president initially hoped to minimize this sequence, comments a Macronist executive.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne arrives at the Hotel Matignon, July 12, 2023 in Paris © Bertrand GUAY / AFP

The Head of State was expected in the evening at the Minister of Relations with Parliament, Franck Riester, who receives the parliamentarians of the majority for the traditional aperitif at the end of the session.

An appointment that promises to be just as "baroque" as the dinner Tuesday at the Elysee with all the members of the government, the future of some of the guests is still pending, starting with that of Franck Riester.

Attal to Education?

In the meantime, ministers remain on the alert, on the lookout for the slightest signal. The fate of several of them, including Pap Ndiaye, who has never really "printed" politically on the National Education, seems sealed.

Education Minister Pap Ndiaye at the exit of the Elysee Palace on July 5, 2023 in Paris © JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP/Archives

Budget Minister Gabriel Attal, 34, Macronia's rising star, seemed to hold the rope to succeed him. "With the crisis in the suburbs, there is a need for a return of authority, of order to the school that he can embody," said an adviser.

At Health, the future of François Braun, another minister from civil society considered too little political, did not seem clear-cut. In any case, he left the Elysée all smiles after the meeting on the Olympics.

As for the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, he could save his post, while the names of Renaissance MPs Maud Bregeon or Prisca Thevenot were circulating insistently to succeed him.

The Secretary of State for the Social and Solidarity Economy Marlène Schiappa is on the other hand, in the opinion of all, on the departure after being pinned for her management of the Marianne Fund.

Marlène Schiappa before the Senate commission of inquiry on the Marianne Fund, June 14, 2023 in Paris © Bertrand GUAY / AFP / Archives

Just like the Minister of Solidarity Jean-Christophe Combe. He could, according to sources in the presidential camp, be replaced by the president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly, Aurore Bergé, unless the post ultimately goes to the deputy of the presidential party Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet.

Only one certainty, according to several ministerial advisers, "the president does not want a big reshuffle, the prime minister is pushing for". In the end, "five or six" ministries are concerned, believes an adviser to the majority, when others evoke a dozen.

"Nothing changes"

Major "adjustments" could go unnoticed in the middle of the holidays, say some, for whom the maneuver is mainly aimed at removing ministers deemed too weak.

The head of government hopes for her part to regain height, after the pension crisis and urban riots, with a team more on the offensive and well identified.

For the opposition, the fight remains the same. The maintenance of Elisabeth Borne, "it is a signal that nothing will change," hammers the leader of the deputies National Rally, Marine Le Pen.

"We will end up with a government in which ministers play musical chairs with each other and people completely unknown," said his counterpart on the LFI side, Mathilde Panot.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who seemed to hold the rope for Matignon before the head of state confirmed Elisabeth Borne, could for his part take the title of minister of state, a further mark of his growing weight within the executive.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, on July 11, 2023 at the National Assembly, in Paris © Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

For the leader of the Renaissance deputies Aurore Bergé, Elisabeth Borne, who has chained the trials of fire since her arrival at Matignon in May 2022, has in any case "earned the respect" of her camp by her "strength of character" and "work".

For 56% of French people, however, she remains a bad prime minister, even if her image has improved slightly since the beginning of the year, according to an ELABE/BFMTV poll published on Wednesday. More than 8 out of 10 French believe that Emmanuel Macron has "missed" his "100 days" decreed mid-April after the pension reform.

© 2023 AFP