Attal's new team remains disappointingly mediocre. Macron occupies positions with faces from the second row. No new impulses are expected.
Let's see how it goes with the new cabinet: French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in front of the Elysee Palace Photo: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
Everyone in the room waits anxiously, the magician says his magic formula, turns his hat with an elegant gesture… and there is nothing inside. The rabbit trick didn't work. This is roughly how one could describe the effect of forming a government in Paris. There is nothing left of Emmanuel Macron's initial magic with which he knew how to charm his compatriots.
Diversionary maneuvers that were otherwise so effective, such as a pathotically announced well in advance reorganization of the government, almost no longer work. Instead of creating hopeful expectations, this only generates comments of resignation or anger from the president.
The astonishment at the appointment of a 34-year-old prime minister, Gabriel Attal, who admitted his homosexuality, sold as political audacity, had already evaporated when the cabinet of ministers was finally completed, almost a month later. Furthermore, someone else stole the limelight from the head of state and the prime minister: the centrist democrat François Bayrou, who was the first to announce his return to the media, only to reject them with harsh criticism a day later.
Attal's team was completely lackluster and was complemented by internal castling and people from the substitute bench. None of them promise new impulses. They are politically loyal members of the government; Macron no longer wanted to take any risks. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who organized the Olympic Games for him as Minister of Sports, quickly discredited herself as Minister of Education and had to be replaced by former Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet.
More than ever the question arises of what “Macronism” could really be. His personnel choice also confirms that Macron's government is moving increasingly to the right politically. How this is supposed to stop the advance of the far right is a mystery. But that is exactly what should be the priority in the time until the next presidential and parliamentary elections.