- Elisabeth Borne resigned on January 8 to re-energize his second term.
- Borne and the other members of the cabinet will continue in their role as caretakers until a new one is established.
- June marks the scheduled European Parliament elections, with Eurosceptics predicted to make historic gains.
Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister of France, resigned on January 8 to re-energize his second term as president in front of the summer Olympics in Paris and elections to the European Parliament.
The presidential palace stated that Borne and the other members of the cabinet will continue in their role as caretakers until a new one is established. The adjustment was made following a year of political unrest brought on by contentious changes to the nation’s immigration and pension systems.
Political strategy
The action will indicate a desire to move past the immigration and pension reforms and concentrate on new goals, such as achieving full employment, rather than necessarily resulting in a change in political strategy.
June marks the scheduled European Parliament elections, with Eurosceptics predicted to make historic gains amid general public unhappiness with rising living expenses and the inability of European governments to control migratory flows.
In the weeks after the French parliament narrowly approved stricter immigration laws, revealing serious fissures in Macron’s centrist majority, there had been much conjecture about a government move.
Former Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire are a few possible successors to Borne. Since May 2022, Borne has served as prime minister. Borne was a soft-spoken professional bureaucrat who worked for multiple ministers in the Socialist Party before entering Macron’s cabinets.
Soon after he was reelected for a second term in 2022, Macron and his government, led by Borne, lost their absolute majority in the parliament and have struggled to deal with a more unstable legislature to pass laws.
The change of leadership is probably going to make it more competitive for Macron’s supporters to unseat him in the 2027 presidential election; Darmanin, Le Maire, and former prime minister Edouard Philippe are all being considered as possible contenders.
