The resigned French Interior Minister and leader of the conservative right-wing party "Republicans" Bruno Retayo announced that he will not participate in the future government of Sébastien Le Cornu, reports the publication 20 minutes, BTA reports.
Retayo, together with Senate President Gerard Larcher, who is also a member of the "Republicans", believe that the party should not enter Le Cornu's cabinet at all. This topic was discussed at today's meeting of the party's deputies.
„In my opinion, we should not participate in this government“, stressed Reutayo, referring to both the entire party and his own participation. Larchet added that the Socialists would probably try to blackmail Lecornu to cancel the reforms implemented so far in exchange for their support in a possible vote of no confidence. Under these conditions, “The Republicans“ should not enter the cabinet, Larchet believes.
Another party representative, François-Xavier Bellamy, noted that a possible participation of “The Republicans“ would mean a denial of their principles.
Lecornu was nominated for the second time by President Macron to form a new government, less than a week after he resigned. It followed the day he presented the composition of the cabinet, in which “The Republicans“ received fewer ministers than the promised one-third. Reutayo proposed several representatives of the party for the post of minister of the Armed Forces, vacated by Le Corneille's appointment as prime minister, but Le Corneille chose former finance minister Bruno Le Maire for the post.
Le Maire has long been in charge of the finance ministry and is widely blamed for the country's deficit problems. He has said he does not want to return to politics and recently criticized Macron for dissolving parliament a year ago, which he said had led to political paralysis.
After Le Maire was announced as a member of the cabinet, Rétaille posted a tweet on Ex, stressing that the composition of the government did not reflect the promised "break with the past". This tweet is believed to have led to Le Corneille's resignation. In the previous cabinet, Rétaille had retained the post of interior minister. Le Corneille claimed that the resignation was due to the personal ambitions of some partners in the ruling coalition, referring to Reutayo, who is expected to run for president in two years. Reutayo himself, however, denies being the reason for the resignation.
Macron then tasked Le Cornu with holding 48 hours of consultations with political parties, after which he re-nominated him as prime minister. Le Cornu set a condition for the formation of a new cabinet - that it not include people who plan to run for president in two years. This effectively excludes from the new cabinet Gérald Darmanin, Bruno Reutayo and Edouard Philippe, leader of the centrist party “Horizons“.