The age of the captain is not the topic! Whether he is 34 or 30 years older, it is not the Prime Minister’s civil status that will make him a good head of government. It is his ability to lead a team so that it effectively meets the expectations of the French. It is not the physical resemblance or dissimilarity of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister that should be the focus, would there be nothing to say to spend so much time on this kind of consideration? The two men will be judged on something else.
The Constitution gives the President of the Republic a role of arbitrator and the government that of determining and conducting the nation’s policies. In fact, it is different. As long as the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister are of the same political persuasion, it is the President who sets the course and the government, therefore, the Prime Minister and the ministers, who implement it. This was already the case with Emmanuel Macron’s predecessors.
So, the President of the Republic and his new Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, jointly bear the responsibility today: to enlighten the horizon of the French in a complex and tense world and to respond to the questions that concern them in their daily lives.
Some appointments have been the subject of much comment recently in Paris. The arrival at the Ministry of Culture of Mrs. Dati, the first opponent of Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of the capital, is seen as the first step in the next municipal elections. As for Mrs. Oudéa-Castera, in addition to the National Education Ministry, she will also be responsible for a major political and societal challenge which she inherits: the Ministry of Sports and… the Paris Olympic Games.
Sure, 2024 will be the year of Paris with worldwide media coverage. Sure, the announced duel for the municipal elections in Paris between Mmes Hidalgo and Dati is already exciting the TV channels. But what a majority of the French expect today has little to do with Paris.
They want solutions to the lack of doctors, the situation of tension in hospitals, the housing crisis, the absolutely essential question of school and education. They expect answers to the problem of drug trafficking, both in neighborhoods and small towns. They want to be reassured about our food autonomy. They expect innovative responses to the climate emergency.
When they live in Mayotte, the French expect clean water from their taps. In many regions, they would like our over-centralized Republic to trust its territories in all their diversity. They expect answers to questions of mobility, employment, training, and equal opportunities… And because they are interested in world affairs, the French are concerned for their security, the war in Ukraine, and the future of the European Union with, in less than six months, the major meeting of elections to the European Parliament. In short, they expect the government to govern.
The Prime Minister stated his will for proximity, action, and results from the moment he took office. We are grateful for this. The French expect nothing less.
